State Polls and Studies

Alabama

Support for Capital Punishment Drops in Alabama The results of a Mobile Register/​University of South Alabama poll, show that among adults in Alabama:

• 63% said they sup­port cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, a small­er num­ber than polls in recent years showed
• 70% said that it was like­ly or very like­ly that an inno­cent per­son has been exe­cut­ed in Alabama in the last 100 years
• 85% said the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment should require states to per­mit DNA test­ing in all cas­es in which it might prove a per­son­’s guilt or innocence
• Over 60% agreed that poor peo­ple are more like­ly to be sen­tenced to death than more afflu­ent defen­dants charged with the same crime (Mobile Register, 7/​2/​00).

Arizona

Arizonans Support Exempting Juveniles and those with Mental Retardation from Execution; Favor Moratorium. A poll by the Behavior Research Center found that sup­port for the death penal­ty in Arizona drops sig­nif­i­cant­ly when spe­cif­ic cir­cum­stances are intro­duced. Among the poll findings:

• 71% oppose the death penal­ty for those with men­tal retar­da­tion; only 11% favor the death penal­ty in such cases.
• 42% oppose the death penal­ty if the con­vict­ed mur­der­er is a juve­nile offend­er, while only 37% sup­port such use.
• 49% favor a two year mora­to­ri­um on the use of the death penal­ty while the leg­is­la­ture stud­ies whether it is being prop­er­ly used; 41% oppose such a mora­to­ri­um, and 10% are unsure.
• When offered the sen­tenc­ing option of life in prison with no pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole, sup­port is divid­ed, with 46% favor­ing life in prison and 46% favor­ing the death penal­ty. (Behavior Research Center, July 2000).

Arkansas

Arkansas Strongly Favors Death Penalty. The 2017 Arkansas Poll by researchers at the University of Arkansas found sup­port for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment was far greater in the state than in oth­er areas of the coun­try. In response to the ques­tion, ​“Do you sup­port or oppose the death penal­ty as the pun­ish­ment for peo­ple con­vict­ed of mur­der?,” 73% said they sup­port the death penal­ty; 17% said they opposed; and 10% said they did not know or refused to answer. The poll obtained iden­ti­cal results when it pre­vi­ous­ly asked that ques­tion in 2015.

California

• A Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) poll con­duct­ed in August and September of 2023 found that while a major­i­ty favored the death penal­ty for per­sons con­vict­ed of mur­der, a major­i­ty believed life impris­on­ment with no parole should be the sen­tence. 62% of those polled were in favor of the penal­ty for per­sons con­vict­ed of mur­der (34% some­what favored and 28% strong­ly favored) while 37% opposed (22% some­what opposed and 15% strong­ly opposed). 55% of California adult res­i­dents sur­veyed said that the sen­tence for first-degree mur­der should be life impris­on­ment with absolute­ly no pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole. 77% of the those polled believed that there is some risk that an inno­cent per­son is put to death from cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. 1,671 California adult res­i­dents were sur­veyed. (Mark Baldassare, Dean Bonner, Lauren Mora, and Deja Thomas, ​“Californians and Their Government”, PPIC Statewide Survey, September 2023). 
• A UC-Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll in ear­ly May 2021 found plu­ral­i­ties of reg­is­tered California vot­ers approved of Governor Gavin Newsom’s mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions and favored repeal­ing the state’s death penal­ty. Asked how they would vote on an amend­ment to repeal the state’s death penal­ty law, 44% of vot­ers said they would vote ​“Yes” to repeal the statute and 35% said they would vote ​“No” to keep the law in force. 21% indi­cat­ed that they are unde­cid­ed. Asked their opin­ions of Governor Gavin Newsom’s 2019 order impos­ing a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions, 48% said they sup­port­ed the mora­to­ri­um, 33% said they opposed it, and 19% were unde­cid­ed or had no opin­ion. (Mark DiCamillo, Plurality of Voters Support Constitutional Amendment to Repeal the State’s Death Penalty, Although Many are Undecided, Berkeley IGS Poll, May 20, 2021.)
• A Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) poll released on March 27, 2019 report­ed that by a record 2:1 mar­gin, respon­dents in a statewide sur­vey on Californians and Their Government pre­ferred life with­out pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole over the death penal­ty as the pun­ish­ment for first-degree mur­der. 62% of respon­dents said they pre­ferred ​“life impris­on­ment with absolute­ly no pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole” (LWOP) as the penal­ty for first-degree mur­der; while 31% said the death penal­ty should be imposed. 7% said they did­n’t know. Democrats and Independents pre­ferred LWOP over the death penal­ty by 76% to 21% and 56% to 36%, respec­tive­ly, while Republicans pre­ferred the death penal­ty by 64% to 32%. Likely vot­ers pre­ferred LWOP over the death penal­ty by 58% to 38%. PPIC report­ed that “[m]ajorities across regions and demo­graph­ic groups think the penal­ty for first degree mur­der should be life impris­on­ment.” (Californians and Their Government, Public Policy Institute of California, March 2019.)
• A February 2006 Field Poll found Californians’ sup­port for the death penal­ty on the decline. The statewide poll revealed that 63% of respon­dents favored keep­ing the death penal­ty for seri­ous crimes, a down sig­nif­i­cant­ly from the 72% sup­port for the death penal­ty mea­sured in 2002 and the 83% who report­ed sup­port for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in both 1985 and 1986. The sur­vey also found a grow­ing seg­ment of the pop­u­la­tion ques­tion­ing the fair­ness of the death penal­ty. The poll asked Californians if they believed the death penal­ty has been ​“gen­er­al­ly fair and free from error.” Among respon­dents, 48% said yes, 39% said no, and 13% had no opin­ion. When the same ques­tion was posed dur­ing a poll two years ago, 58% said the sys­tem was fair, and 31% dis­agreed. ​“The sophis­ti­ca­tion of Californians on this issue is grow­ing. We’re get­ting close to that point when the death penal­ty can no longer dri­ve polit­i­cal deci­sions as it has in the past,” not­ed Lance Lindsey, Executive Director of Death Penalty Focus. In the three months lead­ing up to the Field Poll, California car­ried out two exe­cu­tions, includ­ing the high­ly pub­li­cized exe­cu­tion of Stanley Williams and the exe­cu­tion of Clarence Ray Allen, who at 76 years old was blind and so fee­ble that he had to be wheeled to the death cham­ber. On February 21, a fed­er­al judge blocked the exe­cu­tion of Michael Morales due to con­cerns about the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of the lethal injec­tion process. A hear­ing in May is sched­uled to deter­mine whether California’s pro­ce­dures for lethal injec­tion pose a sig­nif­i­cant risk of leav­ing the pris­on­er con­scious and in pain dur­ing exe­cu­tions. (San Francisco Chronicle, March 3, 2006).
• San Francisco Voters Back DA’s Decision to Not Seek Death Sentence Both city vot­ers and the Bar Association of San Francisco have voiced sup­port for San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris’ deci­sion to not seek the death penal­ty in the case against David Hill, who is accused of killing city police offi­cer Isaac Espinoza. A recent poll found that 70% of respon­dents backed Harris’ deci­sion, while only 22% opposed the choice and 8% remained unde­cid­ed. The poll also found that 65% of those sur­veyed gave Harris’ over­all per­for­mance as District Attorney favor­able marks. Harris ran for office as an oppo­nent of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. The San Francisco Bar Association also praised Harris’ deci­sion to seek a sen­tence of life with­out parole for Hill, and mem­bers voiced their sup­port for keep­ing the tri­al with­in Harris’ domain. The Association cau­tioned that all dis­trict attor­neys could see their pow­er of pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al dis­cre­tion erod­ed if California State Attorney General Bill Lockyer or fed­er­al pros­e­cu­tors decide to take over the case in order to pur­sue a cap­i­tal con­vic­tion. (San Francisco Chronicle, May 19, 2004) See Life Without Parole.
• A 2004 Field Poll con­duct­ed in California found that 68% of Californians expressed sup­port for the death penal­ty, down four per­cent­age points from the last Field Poll on the sub­ject in 2002. 58% of respon­dents answered ​“yes” to whether they believed the California death penal­ty was ​“fair and free of error.” (Associated Press, March 5, 2004)
• Polls Show 20% Drop in Support for Death Penalty in California According to a Los Angeles Times Poll, sup­port for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in California fell 20% in the decade of the 1990s, from 78% in 1990 to 58% in 2000. In addi­tion, the poll indi­cat­ed that 48% of res­i­dents sup­port­ed a mora­to­ri­um on the death penal­ty, while 44% opposed it. (Los Angeles Times, 11/​2/​00)
• Californians Support Halting Executions by 4 – 1 According to a 2000 Field Poll, Californians favored stop­ping state exe­cu­tions by near­ly 4 to 1. When asked if they would favor or oppose Gov. Gray Davis halt­ing exe­cu­tions to study the fair­ness of the state’s cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment sys­tem, 73% sup­port­ed a mora­to­ri­um. At the time, California had the largest death row in the nation with 560 death-row pris­on­ers. (San Francisco Chronicle, 6/​22/​00)
• A January 2000 sur­vey by the non­par­ti­san Public Policy Institute of California report­ed that Californians nar­row­ly pre­ferred death over life with­out parole as the prop­er pun­ish­ment for first-degree mur­der. The results con­trast­ed with those of polls that asked only whether respon­dents favor or oppose the death penal­ty, which were report­ing sup­port of about 3 – 1 for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, both state and nation­wide. The Public Policy Institute poll gave respon­dents the two choic­es a juror in the penal­ty phase of a cap­i­tal tri­al would be giv­en: death or ​“life impris­on­ment with absolute­ly no pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole.” Given that choice, 49% chose death , 47% chose life and the rest were unde­cid­ed. The poll, based on 2,007 ran­dom­ly cho­sen Californians, had a mar­gin of error of plus or minus 2%. (Sacramento Bee, 1/​18/​00).

Colorado

A June 2016 poll by Public Policy Polling asked Colorado vot­ers whether the state should replace the death penal­ty with life in prison with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole. The poll found that 47.2% of Coloradans favored keep­ing the death penal­ty and 42.9% want­ed to replace it. The remain­ing 10% was unde­cid­ed. A Quinnipiac University poll from June 2013 deter­mined that Coloradans sup­port­ed the use of the death penal­ty. 69% of state-vot­ers believed the death penal­ty should remain a sen­tenc­ing option, while 24% want­ed to replace the pun­ish­ment with life in prison with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole.

A February 2008 Colorado poll con­duct­ed by RBI Strategies and Research found that 63% of cit­i­zens believe that mon­ey spent on the death penal­ty would be bet­ter used to close unsolved mur­der cas­es. Citizens like­ly to vote in the next elec­tion were told that the death penal­ty costs the state an extra $3 mil­lion per year, and then asked ​“would you favor or oppose replac­ing the death penal­ty with life impris­on­ment with no pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole, and using the mon­ey saved to track down and pros­e­cute the killers in unsolved mur­der cas­es?” Forty-three per­cent were strong­ly in favor of such a change in spend­ing and anoth­er 20% some­what in favor. Only 27% opposed such a redi­rec­tion of funds. Interestingly, vot­ers were gen­er­al­ly against cut­ting mon­ey from the law enforce­ment bud­get to pur­sue cold cas­es, but were in favor of cut­ting the mon­ey from death penal­ty pros­e­cu­tions. The poll found that Coloradans were even­ly split on the prop­er pun­ish­ment for mur­der, with 45% sup­port­ing life with­out parole and the same per­cent­age sup­port­ing the death penalty.

At the time of the poll, Colorado had exe­cut­ed one per­son in the past 40 years and had one pris­on­er on death row.

(RBI Strategies & Research report, February 2008). Posted April 8, 2008. See the poll results here.

Connecticut

• Support for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in Connecticut drops below 50%%. A March 2011 Quinnipiac University poll of Connecticut vot­ers found that 48% sup­port the death penal­ty while 43% favor life with­out chance of parole. Responses var­ied by age, par­ty affil­i­a­tion and gen­der. Democrats, women and the young favored life impris­on­ment over death, while Republicans, men and vot­ers old­er than age 34 sup­port­ed the death penal­ty. (Connecticut Mirror, Mar 10, 2011)
• 61% of Connecticut res­i­dents sup­port the death penal­ty. A May 2009 Quinnipiac University poll of 1,575 reg­is­tered vot­ers in Connecticut found that 61% of vot­ers expressed sup­port for the death penal­ty. Of those sur­veyed, 77% of Republicans favored it, as com­pared to 50% of Democrats. Voters not affil­i­at­ed with a polit­i­cal par­ty sup­port­ed it 64%. The gen­der mar­gin was 68% in favor to 28% for men and 55% to 39% for women. Of those polled who sup­port it, 23% cit­ed ​“ret­ri­bu­tion and or fair pun­ish­ment” and 22% said it should be reserved for the most heinous of crimes. Of those against the death penal­ty, 23% respond­ed that ​“no one has the right to take a human life,” while 15% feared exe­cut­ing an inno­cent per­son and 9% cit­ed reli­gious con­vic­tion. (Hartford Courant, May 28, 2009)
• 63% of Connecticut res­i­dents sup­port the death penal­ty. A November 2007 Quinnipiac University poll found that 63% of the more than 1,000 reg­is­tered vot­ers sur­veyed sup­port­ed the death penal­ty for con­vict­ed mur­der­ers, while 27% were opposed. 3 of every 4 vot­ers said the home inva­sion did not change their opin­ions. The per­cent­age of Connecticut res­i­dents who sup­port the death penal­ty has changed lit­tle over the past 9 years. The last poll, in January 2005, found that 59% were in favor of exe­cut­ing con­vict­ed mur­der­ers. In 2003 and 2001, 60% favored the death penal­ty. But when asked whether con­vict­ed mur­der­ers should receive the death penal­ty or life in prison with no chance of parole, 47% said the death penal­ty and 44% said life in prison. Quinnipiac’s poll, tak­en from Oct. 31 to Nov. 5, has a mar­gin of error of plus or minus 3% points. (Associated Press, November 7, 2007)
• Poll Reveals Continued Support for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. A Quinnipiac University poll con­duct­ed ear­ly January 2005, revealed that 49% of respon­dents pre­ferred life with­out parole when offered the alter­na­tive to the death penal­ty. As with pre­vi­ous poll results, 59% of respon­dents approved of the death penal­ty ​“in gen­er­al” before being pre­sent­ed with the option of life with­out parole. (Associated Press, January 12, 2005)
• Connecticut Survey Show Concerns About Innocence; Support for Prisoner’s Ability to Waive Appeals. A July 2003 University of Connecticut poll found that 58% of Connecticut cit­i­zens ​“approve of” the death penal­ty, while 32% were at least ​“some­what opposed” to the prac­tice. Six out of ten respon­dents would sup­port a pris­on­er’s right to pro­ceed with an exe­cu­tion over the wish­es of the pris­on­er’s attor­ney. 58% or respon­dents said that they would ​“rather see a guilty man go free than an inno­cent per­son be con­vict­ed.” (New Haven Register, 7/​24/​03)
• Connecticut Survey Finds Voters Support Death Penalty Moratorium; Prefer Life in Prison Without Parole. An April 2001 Quinnipiac University poll found that by a 59 – 33% mar­gin, vot­ers sup­port a two-year mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions in Connecticut. Additional poll findings include:
  • Although vot­ers favor the death penal­ty 60 – 30%, sup­port is split when respon­dents are giv­en the sen­tenc­ing options of life with­out parole or the death penal­ty. Given the option, 43% chose life with­out parole and 42% chose the death penalty
  • 77% of vot­ers oppose the death penal­ty for those with men­tal retar­da­tion; 12% favor it
  • 62% do not think the death penal­ty deters oth­ers from committing murder
  • vot­ers believe 68 – 29% that a poor per­son is more like­ly than a per­son with high­er income to face the death penal­ty for the same crime
  • vot­ers believe 55 – 41% that a black per­son is more like­ly than a white per­son to face the death penal­ty for the same crime. (Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, 4/​23/​01).
• Poll Reveals Death Penalty Concerns. A Quinnipiac University poll of Connecticut vot­ers released in June 2000 found:
  • when giv­en the sen­tenc­ing option of life with­out parole or the death penal­ty, 42% chose life with­out parole, and 41% chose the death penalty
  • 65% believe a poor per­son is more like­ly than a per­son with high­er income to face the death penal­ty for the same crime
  • 53% believe a black per­son is more like­ly than a white per­son to face the death penal­ty for the same crime (black vot­ers believe 85 — 8% there is a racial bias, while white vot­ers believe it 51 – 42%) 90% believe an inno­cent per­son has been wrong­ly con­vict­ed sen­tenced to death in the past 20 years
  • 93% believe post-con­vic­tion DNA test­ing should be avail­able to inmates if such tests might show they were innocent
  • only 58% knew that Connecticut has the death penal­ty (Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty, Press Release, 1/​22/​00)
• A poll of Connecticut res­i­dents con­duct­ed by the Center for Survey Research and Analysis at the University of Connecticut released in January 2000 found the following:
  • 55% don’t believe the death penal­ty is a deter­rent to murder
  • near­ly 40% believe a black or Hispanic defen­dant is more like­ly to be sen­tenced to death than a white defen­dant who com­mits a sim­i­lar crime, while 51% believe race would have no real effect on the punishment.
  • 30% believe it is like­ly that Connecticut will exe­cute some­one who lat­er is proven inno­cent. (Associated Press, 1/​7/​00).

Delaware

A poll from the Delaware Center of Justice, car­ried out in April 2015, indi­cat­ed that the major­i­ty of Delawareans sup­port using life in prison with­out parole in place of the death penal­ty. 64% of vot­ers sup­port­ed life in prison com­pared to 30% who believed the death penal­ty is a more appro­pri­ate pun­ish­ment. 72% of sur­veyed Democrats and 52% of Republicans believed in using an alter­na­tive to the death penal­ty as punishment.

Florida

• Poll Shows Pinellas County Voters Prefer Alternatives to Death Penalty, Oppose Death Penalty for Severely Mentally Ill. A January 22 – 23, 2018 poll by Public Policy Polling found that 68% of Pinellas County respon­dents pre­ferred some form of life impris­on­ment as the pun­ish­ment for peo­ple con­vict­ed of mur­der, while 30% said they pre­ferred the death penal­ty. The poll, which sur­veyed 269 Pinellas County vot­ers, also found that when prompt­ed with infor­ma­tion that the death penal­ty cas­es cost an esti­mat­ed mil­lion dol­lars per case, 60% pre­ferred pros­e­cu­tors to use life with­out parole and redi­rect the sav­ings to solv­ing rapes and mur­ders, while 28% pre­ferred the local state attor­ney to keep using the death penal­ty. 66% of respon­dents said they did not think local pros­e­cu­tors should seek the death penal­ty against per­son with severe men­tal ill­ness, while 21% said local pros­e­cu­tors should seek the death penal­ty against those with severe men­tal ill­ness. 64% said they would sup­port a deci­sion by their local pros­e­cu­tor to reduce or elim­i­nate the use of the death penal­ty, while 32% said they would oppose elim­i­na­tion or reduc­tion in the use of the death penal­ty. (Public Policy Polling, 1/​22 – 23/​18)
• Poll Shows Orange and Osceola County Voters Prefer Life Sentences Over Death Penalty. An April 2017 poll by Public Policy Polling, con­duct­ed short­ly after Governor Rick Scott removed local State Attorney Aramis Ayala from two dozen homi­cide cas­es after she announced that her office would not pur­sue the death penal­ty, found that 62% of Orange and Osceola coun­ty respon­dents pre­ferred some form of life in prison for those con­vict­ed of first-degree mur­der, while 31% said they pre­ferred the death penal­ty. The poll sur­veyed 567 reg­is­tered vot­ers in the two coun­ties. 73% of black vot­ers pre­ferred some form of life sen­tence as the pun­ish­ment for mur­der, as com­pared to 19% who pre­ferred the death penal­ty. Whites and Latinos also pre­ferred life sen­tences over the death penal­ty, both by mar­gins of 29 per­cent­age points. The pref­er­ence for life sen­tences tran­scend­ed par­ty affil­i­a­tion, although there were clear par­ti­san dif­fer­ences. 76% of Democrats pre­ferred life sen­tences, while 21% favored the death penal­ty; Independents pre­ferred life sen­tences by a mar­gin of 22 per­cent­age points (55%-33%); and Republicans pre­ferred life sen­tences by 5 per­cent­age points (49%-44%). (Public Policy Polling, 4/​10/​17)
• “Strong Majority” of Floridians Prefer Life Without Parole Over Death Penalty. A sur­vey of more than 500 jury-eli­gi­ble respon­dents by University of California Santa Cruz researcher Craig Haney report­ed that a ​“strong major­i­ty” of Floridians (57%) said they life with­out parole was the appro­pri­ate pun­ish­ment for a per­son con­vict­ed of mur­der, as com­pared to& 43% who said the death penal­ty was the appro­pri­ate pun­ish­ment. Dr. Haney said the pref­er­ence for life held across racial groups, gen­ders, edu­ca­tion­al lev­els, and reli­gious affil­i­a­tion. Dr. Haney’s poll found that Floridians held two com­mon mis­con­cep­tions about the death penal­ty that affect­ed their views on the issue: 68.9% mis­tak­en­ly believed that the death penal­ty was cheap­er than life with­out parole, and& 40.2% mis­tak­en­ly believed that peo­ple sen­tenced to life with­out parole would be released from prison. Haney said sup­port for the death penal­ty fell to 29% if the life sen­tenc­ing option was com­bined with a require­ment that pris­on­ers pay resti­tu­tion to vic­tims’ fam­i­lies. (Haney, 8/​16/​16)
• Floridians Prefer Life Sentence to Death Penalty, Would Require Unanimous Jury Vote for Death. A February 2016 poll of 879 Florida vot­ers by Public Policy Polling found that 62% of Floridians pre­ferred some form of life in prison for con­vict­ed mur­der­ers, as com­pared to 35% who pre­ferred the death penal­ty. A plu­ral­i­ty (38%) pre­ferred life with­out parole cou­pled with resti­tu­tion pay­ments, while an addi­tion­al 24% pre­ferred either life with­out parole or life with parole eli­gi­bil­i­ty after 40 years. The poll showed broad sup­port across the polit­i­cal spec­trum for requir­ing the jury to unan­i­mous­ly agree on the sen­tence before the death penal­ty can be imposed: 73% of Floridians sup­port­ed a una­nim­i­ty require­ment, includ­ing 70% of Republicans and Independents and 77% of Democrats. (Public Policy Polling, 2/​8/​16)
• Poll Shows Declining Support for Death Penalty in Florida. An August 2000 Sun-Sentinel poll found that only 45% of Floridians sup­port the death penal­ty when offered the sen­tenc­ing option of life in prison with­out parole, down from 60% the pre­vi­ous November. In addi­tion, sup­port for life in prison with­out parole rose from 16% in 1999 to 28% in 2000. (Sun Sentinel, 8/​7/​00)

Georgia

• Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy con­duct­ed in Georgia in December of 2019, sur­vey­ing 625 reg­is­tered Georgia vot­ers. When prompt­ed by infor­ma­tion on the tax costs of the death penal­ty, undue stress on victim’s fam­i­ly, and ben­e­fits of life in prison with­out parole sen­tence, 56% of those polled sup­port­ed replac­ing the death penal­ty with life in prison with­out parole. (​“Georgia Poll”, Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy, December 2019). 
• Georgians Oppose Juvenile Death Penalty A 2003 University of Georgia poll found that 60% of Georgians favored try­ing to reha­bil­i­tate young crim­i­nals rather than exe­cut­ing them. Only 23% of respon­dents said courts should be allowed to give chil­dren the death penal­ty. In addi­tion, 81% of those polled believed that judges should be grant­ed greater flex­i­bil­i­ty when deal­ing with con­vict­ed chil­dren than the manda­to­ry sen­tenc­ing rules used for adults. At the time of the poll, Georgia law required juve­niles ages 13 to 18-years-old to be tried in adult court and face adult penal­ties when accused of any of sev­en vio­lent crimes, such as mur­der and rape. (The Augusta Chronicle, January 17, 2003).

Illinois

• The Paul Simon Public Policy Institute poll con­duct­ed in February 2020 of 1000 reg­is­tered Illinois vot­ers found that major­i­ty of vot­ers oppose rein­stat­ing the death penal­ty in Illinois, with a major­i­ty of them strong­ly oppos­ing. 51% oppose (13% some­what oppose and 38% strong­ly oppose) rein­stat­ing the death penal­ty in Illinois. (​“Simon Poll”, The Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, February 2020). 
• A 2010 poll con­duct­ed by Lake Research Partners found that a major­i­ty of Illinois reg­is­tered vot­ers pre­fer an alter­na­tive sen­tence to the death penal­ty for those who com­mit mur­der. The poll­sters sur­veyed vot­ers in April, and found that 43% believed that the penal­ty for mur­der should be life with no pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole and a require­ment to make resti­tu­tion to the victim’s fam­i­ly. Another 18% felt that the penal­ty for mur­der should be life in prison with no pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole. Only 32% respond­ed that the penal­ty for mur­der should be death. The poll also found only 39% of reg­is­tered vot­ers even know that Illinois has the death penal­ty. Jeremy Schroeder, exec­u­tive direc­tor of the Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, attrib­uted this to a declin­ing mur­der rate and a declin­ing use of the death penal­ty in the state. There has not been an exe­cu­tion in Illinois since 2000, when then Governor George Ryan imposed a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions in the state. Between 1977, when cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment was rein­stat­ed in Illinois, and the mora­to­ri­um in 2000, Illinois freed 13 men from death row and put 12 to death. (D. Finke, ​“Quinn favors death penal­ty mora­to­ri­um; Brady would lift it,” The State Journal-Register, July 15, 2010). 
• Illinois Voters Evenly Split Over Governor’s Commutations A Zogby International poll in Illinois released in February 2003 found that vot­ers were even­ly split about Governor Ryan’s blan­ket clemen­cy for death row pris­on­ers. Poll results showed that 47.5% of respon­dents agreed with Gov. Ryan’s deci­sion, while 50.5% dis­agreed, with­in the pol­l’s 4.1% mar­gin of error. The poll found that over­all sup­port for the death penal­ty in the state was at 55%, low­er than the nation­al aver­age at the time, which was between 65 – 70%. Voters were also asked if they would be more or less like­ly to vote for a leg­is­la­tor who sup­port­ed the abo­li­tion move­ment. The results indi­cat­ed that 40.8% said that it would not make a dif­fer­ence, 32.8% said that they would be less like­ly to sup­port such leg­is­la­tors, and 24.3% of respon­dents said they would be more like­ly to sup­port such leg­is­la­tors. (St. Louis Post Dispatch, February 6, 2003).
• Illinois Voters Evenly Split Over Death Row Commutations A St. Louis Post-Dispatch poll revealed that Illinois res­i­dents were even­ly split when asked whether they agreed with the idea of Governor George Ryan com­mut­ing all of the state’s 160 death sen­tences to life in prison. The poll found that 49.7% were opposed to the idea, and 45.5% favored Ryan com­mut­ing death sen­tences to life in prison with­out parole. With the mar­gin of error tak­en into account, the state’s vot­ers were tied sta­tis­ti­cal­ly. A response to the release of 13 inno­cent men from Illinois’ death row, Ryan’s 2‑year-old mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions enjoyed over­whelm­ing pub­lic sup­port. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 13, 2002).
• An October 2002 poll by the Survey Research Center at Illinois Wesleyan University found that sup­port for the death penal­ty over life with­out parole as a pun­ish­ment for mur­der was at 43%. (Pantagraph, 10/​25/​02)
• An August 2002 Zogby International poll of Illinoisians found that 68.3% of respon­dents sup­port­ed Governor George Ryan’s then-cur­rent mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions, while 26.1% opposed it. Most respon­dents said the issue was either ​“impor­tant” or ​“very impor­tant” to them in choos­ing a polit­i­cal can­di­date. Fewer than one-third of respon­dents said the issue was­n’t impor­tant. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 25, 2002).
• An April 2002 Zogby International poll of like­ly vot­ers in Illinois found that 64% of respon­dents sup­port­ed Governor George Ryan’s then-cur­rent mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions. The poll also found that 59% of those ques­tioned agreed with lim­it­ing the num­ber of crimes that are pun­ish­able by death, a rec­om­men­da­tion that had recent­ly been made by the Illinois Commission on Capital Punishment. In its April 2002 report, the Governor-appoint­ed Commission had rec­om­mend­ed reduc­ing the num­ber of fac­tors that make a crime eli­gi­ble for a death sen­tence from 20 to 5. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 29, 2002).
• A poll by the Copley News Service found that sup­port for Governor Ryan’s mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions had fall­en to 46% from the 81% that had approved of it in February 2000, right after Ryan declared the mora​to​ri​um​.As of March 2002, Copley report­ed, 46% sup­port­ed the halt to exe­cu­tions, while 42% opposed it and 13% were unde­cid­ed. (Associated Press, 3/​16/​02)
• Illinois Poll Finds Strong Support for Death Penalty Reforms; Concerns About Executing the Innocent A poll of Illinois res­i­dents by Roper Starch Worldwide found the following:
  • 7 out of 10 Illinois res­i­dents approved of Gov. Ryan’s deci­sion in 2000 to place a mora­to­ri­um on executions.
  • Three-fourths of Illinois res­i­dents were con­cerned that inno­cent peo­ple have been executed.
  • 47% said that giv­en the sen­tenc­ing choice between the death penal­ty and life in prison with no chance of parole, they would pick life in prison with­out parole. Only 33% would choose the death penal­ty for the crime of murder.
  • Nearly 90% favored pro­vid­ing resources to assure a thorough defense.
  • 79% favored set­ting min­i­mum stan­dards for com­pe­tence and ethics for defense lawyers. (Chicago Sun-Times, 1/​26/​01)
• Support for Death Penalty Declining in Illinois A poll by the Chicago Tribune showed that sup­port for the death penal­ty among reg­is­tered vot­ers in Illinois had fall­en to 58%, down from 76% in August 1994 and 63% in 1999. Also among the poll findings:
  • When giv­en the alter­na­tive of life with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole, 43% sup­port­ed the death penal­ty and 41% favored life without parole.
  • 62% said they favored restric­tions on the death penal­ty unless cer­tain con­di­tions were met.
  • Conditions includ­ed requir­ing the pros­e­cu­tion’s case to con­sist of more than a sin­gle eye­wit­ness or accomplice.
  • 66% agreed with Governor Ryan’s deci­sion to sus­pend exe­cu­tions while the state’s cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment sys­tem is reviewed. (Chicago Tribune, 3/​7/​00)
• According to a poll by the Chicago Tribune, sup­port for the death penal­ty in Illinois dropped 13 per­cent­age points from 1994 to 1999, and a major­i­ty of vot­ers (54%) favored a mora­to­ri­um on all exe­cu­tions in the state. Fewer than half of the respon­dents — 49% — said they believed the death penal­ty deters crime. (Chicago Tribune, 3/​28/​99)

Kansas

In a September 2016 poll com­mis­sioned by the ACLU of Kansas and Kansas Appleseed, just 39% of respon­dents believed that the death penal­ty is a bet­ter max­i­mum pun­ish­ment than life in prison with­out parole. 49% of respon­dents believed that life in prison is a bet­ter pun­ish­ment than the death penalty.

The Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty (KCADP) com­mis­sioned Jayhawk Consulting Services to con­duct a pub­lic opin­ion poll. 500 peo­ple were inter­viewed for this poll by phone on either January 20 or 21^st of 2007. View a video ana­lyz­ing the poll results. Questions included:

• The Death Penalty is too arbi­trary because some peo­ple are exe­cut­ed while oth­ers serve prison terms for the same crimes. Agree 57%, Disagree 32%, Not Sure 11%
• What if con­vict­ed mur­der­ers in Kansas could be sen­tenced to life with no chance of parole and also were required to work in prison indus­trues for mon­ey that would go to the fam­i­lies of their vic­tims, would you pre­fer this as an alter­na­tive to the death penal­ty? Yes 65%, No 24%, Not Sure 11% (KCADP, 2/​12/​2007).

Kentucky

• Nearly three-quar­ters of Kentuckians (72.4%) would sup­port a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions while prob­lems in the admin­is­tra­tion of Kentucky’s death penal­ty are addressed, accord­ing to a poll released in 2016 by the University of Kentucky Survey Research Center. Nearly two-thirds (62.6%) of those who said they sup­port the death penal­ty were nev­er­the­less in favor of a mora­to­ri­um. The poll also found that 57.8% of respon­dents pre­ferred a lengthy prison term (options ranged from 20 – 50 years to life with­out parole) over the death penal­ty for peo­ple con­vict­ed of first-degree mur­der. Respondents also were asked their views about spe­cif­ic con­cerns relat­ed to the death penal­ty. 68% said they would sup­port replac­ing the death penal­ty with life with­out parole if admin­is­tra­tion of the death penal­ty and its con­sti­tu­tion­al­ly man­dat­ed appeals were found to cost sub­stan­tial­ly more than life in prison. 71.6% of all respon­dents — includ­ing 61.4% of death penal­ty sup­port­ers — agreed that cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment risks exe­cut­ing an inno­cent per­son. Finally, when asked to con­sid­er the impact of lengthy appeals on vic­tims’ fam­i­lies, 64% of Kentuckians sup­port­ed replac­ing the death penal­ty with life with­out parole. (G. Stotelmyer, ​“Poll: Kentuckians Want Executions Halted Until Problems Fixed,” Public News Service, August 1, 2016). 
• New polling results released by the University of Kentucky Survey Center reveal that Kentuckians over­whelm­ing­ly choose alter­na­tives over the death penal­ty as the most appro­pri­ate pun­ish­ment for those con­vict­ed of aggra­vat­ed mur­der. When asked to select the most appro­pri­ate sen­tenc­ing option from choic­es cur­rent­ly avail­able to Kentucky jurors serv­ing in cap­i­tal mur­der tri­als, 67% select­ed sen­tences oth­er than the death penal­ty. The first choice among respon­dents was life with­out parole. The poll found that while only 30.5% of those polled select­ed the death penal­ty, 36.2% chose life with­out parole, 10.3% select­ed life with the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole in 25 years, 5.6% select­ed life with the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole in 20 years, and 15.5% chose a 20 – 50 year prison terms. Since 1997, sup­port for alter­na­tives to the death penal­ty in Kentucky has steadi­ly increased from 38% in 1997 to over 67% this year. (“Abolition Now,” Newsletter of the Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, December 2006).
• A poll by the University of Kentucky’s Survey Research Center found that 63% of respon­dents said they strong­ly favor or some­what favor leg­is­la­tion that would allow the death penal­ty only for those 18 years or old­er; 32% some­what oppose or strong­ly oppose such leg­is­la­tion. (The Courier-Journal, 10/​25/​02)
• Support for the Death Penalty Declining in Kentucky A sur­vey of atti­tudes toward the death penal­ty in Kentucky indi­cates that the avail­abil­i­ty of life with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole as a sen­tence in mur­der cas­es has dra­mat­i­cal­ly altered sup­port for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in Kentucky. The sur­vey, con­duct­ed by the Urban Studies Institute, Survey Research Center at the University of Louisville, Kentucky, found the following:
  • Support for the death penal­ty among Kentucky res­i­dents dropped from 69.5% in 1989 and 69.1% in 1997 to 59.2% in 1999.
  • When giv­en the choice between the death penal­ty and life in prison with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole, 53.9% of respon­dents favored life with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole for those con­vict­ed of murder.
  • Of respon­dents who said they ​“strong­ly sup­port­ed” the death penal­ty, 38.2% changed their opin­ion in favor of life with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole when giv­en the sen­tenc­ing option. (Survey Research Center, University of Louisville, KY, 12/​99)
• A opin­ion poll in Kentucky repli­cat­ed what has been shown in state polls around the coun­try: peo­ple sup­port the alter­na­tive sen­tence of life with­out parole over the death penal­ty. A University of Louisville poll found that 42% sup­port­ed life with­out parole, while only 35% sup­port­ed the death penal­ty. (KY Courier-Journal, 7/​13/​97).

Louisiana

• Support for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in Louisiana has fall­en by sev­en per­cent­age points in the last four years, accord­ing to the 2022 Louisiana Survey by the Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs at Louisiana State University. 51% of respon­dents to the annu­al sur­vey report­ed that they favor the death penal­ty, down from the 58% in 2018. Opposition to the death penal­ty rose four per­cent­age points, from 34% to 38% in that same peri­od. (Michael Henderson, ​“2022 Louisiana Survey Report 6”, Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs, Louisiana State University, April 28, 2022).
• Majority of Louisiana Voter Prefer Non-Capital Sentencing Alternatives over the Death Penalty, Oppose Raising Taxes to Support Capital Punishment. A March 2016 statewide poll of Louisiana vot­ers poll by the firm Multi-Quest PRSCM LLC found that more than twice as many in Louisiana pre­ferred alter­na­tives to the death penal­ty over the death penal­ty. 42.3% of respon­dents said they pre­ferred life with­out parole as the pun­ish­ment for mur­der, with an addi­tion­al 15.4% sup­port­ing a life sen­tence with eli­gi­bil­i­ty for parole after 35 years. 24.3% sup­port­ed the death penal­ty and 18% did not know or declined to answer. After hav­ing been told that death penal­ty has cost the State of Louisiana an aver­age of $10 mil­lion dol­lars over the pre­ceed­ing 15 years, 52.1% said they pre­ferred their leg­is­la­tors to cut costs by elim­i­nat­ing the death penal­ty, as com­pared with 24.5% who said they would pre­fer leg­is­la­tors to raise tax­es to keep the death penal­ty. A leg­is­la­tor’s posi­tion on the death penal­ty (8.0%) trailed far behind respon­sive­ness (37.9%), votes on tax­es (23.3%), posi­tion on crim­i­nal jus­tice reform (11.3%), and par­ty affil­i­a­tion (10.5%) as the most impor­tant fac­tor in elect­ing a leg­is­la­tor. (Promise of Justice Initiative, 4/​26/​16). See D. Hasselle, Louisiana con­ser­v­a­tives rethink­ing the death penal­ty, Gambit, May 2, 2016 (graph­ic, Gambit, 5/​2/​16).
• Louisiana Residents Overwhelmingly Support Moratorium A poll in Louisiana in April 2001 found that 81% of Louisiana res­i­dents favored a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions while the state’s cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment sys­tem is stud­ied. In addi­tion, 55% of respon­dents said they would be more like­ly to re-elect a leg­is­la­tor who vot­ed for a mora­to­ri­um; 16% said they would be less like­ly and the remain­der said it would not make a dif­fer­ence. At the time, the Louisiana Senate was con­sid­er­ing a bill that would halt exe­cu­tions until September 1, 2001 and estab­lish a Louisiana Death Sentence Study Commission. (New Orleans Times-Picayune, 4/​29/​01).
   

Maryland

• A Washington Post 2013 poll of Maryland adults found a major­i­ty (60%) believe that Maryland law should allow the death penal­ty. 36% sup­port replac­ing the death penal­ty with life in prison with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole. Nearly 1/​3 of polled (1/​2 of African Americans polled) believe death penal­ty has been unfair­ly applied in Maryland. (John Wagner and Peyton M. Craghill, ​“Washington Post poll finds most Marylanders in favor of death penal­ty”, Washington Post, February 26, 2013). 
• A recent Washington Post opin­ion poll found that Marylanders pre­fer the sen­tence of life in prison over the death penal­ty. In the October 2007 poll of 1,103 Maryland adults, respon­dents were asked to choose between the sen­tence of life in prison with­out parole or the death penal­ty for the crime of mur­der: 52% said they favored life with­out parole and 43% sup­port­ed cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Among black respon­dents, sup­port for life with­out parole was even stronger, with 65% respond­ing that they pre­ferred the sen­tence of life in prison and only 29% choos­ing the death penal­ty. According to the Washington Post, sup­port for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in the­o­ry stands at 60%, but Marylanders hold nuanced views on the issue and are shift­ing away from the death penal­ty. Carla Hosford of Chevy Chase not­ed, ​“If we kill and they kill, who has learned any­thing?” In the com­ing year, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley and oth­ers who oppose cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment are expect­ed to con­tin­ue efforts to abol­ish the death penal­ty in the state. Last year, a nation­al Washington Post-ABC News poll revealed a sim­i­lar shift nation­al­ly. The poll found that Americans are almost even­ly split when giv­en the two sen­tenc­ing options, with 50% favor­ing the death penal­ty and 46% pre­fer­ring life with­out parole. (Washington Post, October 26, 2007).
• According to a recent Maryland poll, a large major­i­ty of vot­ers in the state sup­port replac­ing the death penal­ty with a sen­tence of life with­out parole. The poll, con­duct­ed by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, Inc., found that 61% of those sur­veyed believe that the sen­tence of life with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole is ​“an accept­able sub­sti­tute for the death penal­ty.” Only 27% of respon­dents dis­agreed. Support for life with­out parole in Maryland has jumped near­ly 20 per­cent­age points in less than a decade. Six years ago in a com­pa­ra­ble poll, only 43% sup­port­ed life with­out parole. The poll was com­mis­sioned by the Maryland Catholic Conference, and it was released as Maryland leg­is­la­tors are con­sid­er­ing a bill to replace the state’s death penal­ty with a sen­tence of life with­out parole. The poll found that leg­is­la­tors who sup­port the repeal mea­sure will face no reper­cus­sions among vot­ers. Of those polled, 71% said that they would either be more like­ly to sup­port a leg­is­la­tor who vot­ed for the ban (29%) or it would not impact their vote (42%). ​“Clearly, the vot­ers real­ize that the sys­tem needs to be reformed and they will sup­port their leg­is­la­tors who decide it makes the most sense to end the death penal­ty,” said Dick Dowling, exec­u­tive direc­tor of the Maryland Catholic Conference. The Conference not­ed that the polling results reflect a grow­ing dis­com­fort with the death penal­ty due to con­cerns about prob­lems such as wrong­ful con­vic­tions. (Maryland Catholic Conference Press Release, ​“Maryland Voters Support Life Without Parole as Replacement for the Death Penalty by More Than 2‑to‑1 Margin,” February 28, 2007).
• Poll Finds Tepid Support for Death Penalty as State Sets Execution Date As Maryland Circuit Court Judge Steven I. Platt signed a death war­rant sched­ul­ing the exe­cu­tion of Heath W. Burch for the week of December 6, a Potomac Inc. poll of state res­i­dents revealed that only 53% sup­port cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Burch has been on death row since 1996 and would be the first per­son since 1953 to be exe­cut­ed for a crime com­mit­ted in Prince George’s County. Experts pre­dict that his exe­cu­tion would be met with resis­tance from coun­ty res­i­dents, 50% of whom oppose cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment accord­ing to the Potomac Inc. poll. Judge Platt also grant­ed Burch a 30-day stay of exe­cu­tion to pro­vide his attor­neys with time to file an appeal that they state will be based on a University of Maryland study that showed death sen­tences are imposed more often when the vic­tims are white. Burch, a black man, was con­vict­ed of mur­der­ing an elder­ly white cou­ple. Earlier in 2004, Maryland car­ried out the exe­cu­tion of Steven Oken, the first per­son to be exe­cut­ed by the state since 1998. (The Washington Post, October 22, 2004) See Race.
• Maryland Support for Death Penalty Down A Potomac Research, Inc. poll on crime per­formed in Maryland in March 2004 asked 1,200 par­tic­i­pants ​“Do you favor or oppose the death penal­ty?” The over­all statewide response was 53% in favor, 34% opposed, with 11% reply­ing ​“depend­ing upon the sit­u­a­tion.” This rep­re­sents a sig­nif­i­cant decline from the Gonzales poll of 2001, when sup­port was at 62%. In some coun­ties, sup­port was even less: Montgomery County report­ed 43% sup­port; Baltimore 42%; and Prince George’s County 36%. Only one oth­er death penal­ty ques­tion was addressed: asked if they favored the death penal­ty for juve­niles involved in par­tic­u­lar­ly hor­ri­ble mur­ders (the Lee Malvo case was cit­ed), par­tic­i­pants were even­ly split, 43% in favor, 43% opposed. (Washington Post, October 22, 2004)
• Maryland Split on Support for Death Penalty A Maryland poll by Potomac Inc., found that 45% of Marylanders favored a mora­to­ri­um on the death penal­ty while the a state com­mis­sion stud­ies whether the death penal­ty is hand­ed out fair­ly; 47% opposed the mora­to­ri­um and 9% were not sure. (Maryland Poll by Potomac Inc., 1/​2 – 4/​02)
• A Gonzales/​Arscott Research & Communications poll in Maryland found sup­port for the death penal­ty at 62%, slight­ly below the nation­al lev­el as report­ed by Gallup (67% in March 2001). Support dropped fur­ther — to 45% — when respon­dents were giv­en the choice between the death penal­ty and life with­out parole as the more appro­pri­ate pun­ish­ment for mur­der. The poll also found that Marylanders over­whelm­ing­ly favor DNA test­ing for inmates if it is pos­si­ble that the test would show their inno­cence; 89% sup­port­ed test­ing and only 7% were opposed. (Washington Post, 5/​24/​01).

Massachusetts

Poll Shows Declining Support for the Death Penalty in Massachusetts A Boston Globe /​WBZ-TV poll in April 2003 showed that only 53% of those sur­veyed sup­port­ed cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment against 41% opposed to the prac­tice. This is a sig­nif­i­cant decline from the 1996 poll which found 65% in favor of the death penal­ty, with only 26% opposed. (Boston Globe, April, 2003; September 23, 2003).

Michigan

• Support Strong for Life Without Parole While 56% of Michigan vot­ers said they would sup­port the death penal­ty, that sup­port dropped to 45% when those same vot­ers were informed of Michigan’s ​“life with­out parole” law. The issue was raised when an amend­ment was intro­duced to rein­state the death penal­ty in Michigan, which was the first English-speak­ing gov­ern­ment to abol­ish the prac­tice in 1846. Life with­out parole was pre­ferred by 44%, with 11% unde­cid­ed. The Poll was con­duct­ed by EPIC/​MRA in February 2004. (Associated Press, March 1, 2004)
• Poll Shows Declining Death Penalty Support in Michigan A poll by the Detroit Free Press found that sup­port to repeal Michigan’s 155-year-old ban on the death penal­ty had fall­en to 55%, down from 70% in the ear­ly 1990s. The poll also found that when respon­dents were offered the choice between the death penal­ty and manda­to­ry life impris­on­ment plus resti­tu­tion to the vic­tim’s fam­i­ly, sup­port for the death penal­ty dropped to 35%, with 53% favor­ing life. (Detroit Free Press, 5/​19/​01)
• A Michigan poll indi­cates that sup­port for the death penal­ty is declin­ing and the major­i­ty of res­i­dents (56%) would pre­fer a life sen­tence and pay­ment to vic­tims’ fam­i­lies instead of the death penal­ty (33%). The poll was con­duct­ed by EPIC/​MRA. Pollster Ed Sarpolus said: ​“It’s the low­est sup­port for the death penal­ty I’ve seen.” Michigan’s House of Representatives over­whelm­ing­ly defeat­ed a res­o­lu­tion recent­ly to restore the death penal­ty. (The Flint Journal, 5/​1/​99).

Minnesota

Support for Death Penalty Declining in Minnesota A statewide poll by the Star Tribune Minnesota found that sup­port for the death penal­ty in Minnesota has fall­en to 57%, down from 73% in 1996. In addi­tion, the new poll shows in increase in oppo­si­tion to the death penal­ty with 33% of Minnesotans now oppos­ing the death penal­ty, up from the 22% that opposed exe­cu­tions in 1996. Minnesota is one of twelve states plus the District of Columbia that do not have the death penal­ty. (Star Tribune Minnesota, 3/​20/​00).

Missouri

• An annu­al poll from St. Louis University and YouGov of 900 Missouri like­ly vot­ers found that while a major­i­ty of those polled favor the death penal­ty, a slight major­i­ty favor com­mut­ing death sen­tences to life in prison with­out parole. 62% of like­ly vot­ers are in favor of death penal­ty sen­tenc­ings in cas­es of first-degree mur­der, 24% oppose the death penal­ty. 52% of like­ly vot­ers are in favor of Missouri Governor com­mut­ing death sen­tences to life in prison with­out parole. In the case of a jury being hung, 48% of like­ly vot­ers are in favor of judges decid­ing between death sen­tences and life in prison with­out parole sen­tences, 35% oppose this. (​“February 2024 SLU/​YouGov Poll”, St. Louis University, February 2024).
• A Zogby International poll found that 66.3% of respon­dents sup­port the death penal­ty and 31.1% oppose it, in line with nation­al num­bers. (St. Louis Post Dispatch, February 6, 2003).
• A poll of Missourians’ opin­ions about the death penal­ty, tak­en by the Center for Social Sciences and Public Policy Research, Southwest Missouri State University, was released December 6. The results include:
  • only 46% sup­port the death penal­ty when offered an option of life with no parole plus restitution
  • 56% expressed a will­ing­ness to sup­port a three-year mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions to inves­ti­gate sen­tenc­ing prac­tices and effects
  • only 35% said they would be less like­ly to vote for a state leg­is­la­tor if that leg­is­la­tor vot­ed against the death penal­ty. Nearly half of the remain­der (43%) said their vote would not be affect­ed, while 22% said they would be more like­ly to vote for such a leg­is­la­tor (Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty, Press Release 12/​7/​99).

Montana

In an October 2022 poll con­duct­ed by Montana State University Billings, 70% of Montanans sup­port­ed the use of the death penal­ty and capital punishment.

Nebraska

According to an April 2015 poll com­mis­sioned by the ACLU of Nebraska, 58.5% of Nebraska vot­ers sup­port alter­na­tives to the death penal­ty. Just 30% of sur­vey respon­dents sup­port­ed the death penal­ty over alternatives.

Nevada

• Nevadans favor replac­ing the state’s death penal­ty with life with­out parole. A January 2021 poll of Nevada vot­ers by David Binder Research, released March 4, 2021, found that 49% of Nevadans favor replac­ing the state’s death penal­ty with life with­out parole, com­pared with 46% who would keep cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. The results rep­re­sent a 20-per­cent­age-point shift from the respons­es to a 2017 poll by the Nevada Independent in which 66% of Nevada respon­dents said they sup­port­ed keep­ing the death penal­ty. At that time, just 27% of poll respon­dents said they sup­port­ed repeal. Majorities of both Democrats (69%) and Independents (51%) now favor abo­li­tion, the 2021 poll found.
• By a 17-per­cent­age-point mar­gin, Nevadans also expressed a pref­er­ence for long prison sen­tences over the death penal­ty as the appro­pri­ate pun­ish­ment for those who com­mit first-degree mur­der. Offered a choice among the death penal­ty, life with­out parole, life with the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole after 40 years, or life with the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole after 20 years, 53% of the survey’s 500 respon­dents chose one of the life-sen­tenc­ing options. 36% chose the death penal­ty. Among the life sen­tences, 27% of respon­dents favored life with­out parole, 13% favored life parole eli­gi­bil­i­ty after 40 years, and 14% favored life with parole eli­gi­bil­i­ty after 20 years.

(Sean Golonka, Poll: Nevadans divid­ed over abol­ish­ing the death penal­ty, a shift from pre­vi­ous poll, The Nevada Independent, March 8, 2021.)
 

• Clark County vot­ers oppose death penal­ty for vul­ner­a­ble and impaired defen­dants. A December 2021 poll of like­ly Clark County (Las Vegas) vot­ers by the Justice Research Group found over­whelm­ing bipar­ti­san oppo­si­tion to the use of the death penal­ty against broad cat­e­gories of vul­ner­a­ble and impaired defen­dants. By mar­gins of bet­ter than 2 to 1, vot­ers opposed seek­ing the death penal­ty against those with men­tal ill­ness, intel­lec­tu­al impair­ment, or brain dam­age, and vet­er­ans with PTSD. With sig­nif­i­cant par­ti­san dif­fer­ences, vot­ers nar­row­ly opposed seek­ing the death penal­ty against ado­les­cent offend­ers and vic­tims of abuse.
• Voter oppo­si­tion was great­est when it came to seek­ing the death penal­ty against vet­er­ans with PTSD. 62% of vot­ers said the death penal­ty should not be sought ​“against a per­son who suf­fers from post-trau­mat­ic stress dis­or­der after serv­ing their coun­try in the U.S. Armed Forces,” while 23% sup­port­ed such pros­e­cu­tions. 69% of Democrats, 60% of Independents, and 52% of Republicans opposed cap­i­tal­ly pros­e­cut­ing vet­er­ans with PTSD, while 12% of Democrats and 18% of Republicans and Independents supported it.
• 60% of respon­dents, includ­ing 67% of Democrats, 60% of Independents, and 52% of Republicans opposed ​“seek­ing a death sen­tence against a per­son with seri­ous intel­lec­tu­al impair­ment.”, while 27% of Republicans, 21% of Democrats, and 20% of Independents sup­port­ed them. 59% opposed ​“seek­ing a death sen­tence against a per­son with a diag­nosed men­tal ill­ness” and ​“against a per­son with a trau­mat­ic brain injury.” 67% of Democrats, 60% of Independents, and 48% of Republicans opposed cap­i­tal pros­e­cu­tions of those with men­tal ill­ness. 68% of Democrats, 63% of Independents, and 43% of Republicans opposed cap­i­tal pros­e­cu­tions of those with brain injuries. 29% of Republicans and 23% of Democrats and Independents sup­port­ed the use of the death penal­ty against the men­tal­ly ill. 35% of Republicans, 22% of Democrats, and 19% of Independents endorsed cap­i­tal pros­e­cu­tion of brain injured defendants.
• Clark County respon­dents dis­played sig­nif­i­cant par­ti­san dif­fer­ences over the use of the death penal­ty against ado­les­cent offend­ers and vic­tims of phys­i­cal or sex­u­al abuse. A 45% plu­ral­i­ty of respon­dents opposed ​“seek­ing a death sen­tence against a per­son who has endured severe phys­i­cal or sex­u­al abuse as a child,” while 36% sup­port­ed it. Democrats opposed such pros­e­cu­tions, 52% to 31% and Independents were split even­ly 39% to 39%. Republicans nar­row­ly approved of seek­ing the death penal­ty in cas­es of severe abuse, 40% to 38%. A nar­row plu­ral­i­ty of respon­dents, 46% to 43%, opposed ​“seek­ing the death penal­ty against a per­son who is over the age of 18 but under the age of 21.” Democrats strong­ly opposed this prac­tice, 60% to 28%, while Republicans even more strong­ly sup­port­ed it, 62% to 25%. Independents nar­row­ly opposed such pros­e­cu­tions, 48% to 45%.

(NEW CLARK COUNTY POLL: Voters Strongly Oppose Death Penalty For Mentally Ill; Steve Wolfson Keeps Seeking It, Vegas Watch, January 24, 2022.)

New Hampshire

• A February 2014 poll by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center found that 58% of respon­dents favored use of the death penal­ty, while 29% were opposed to its use.
• A Concord Monitor 2008 poll of New Hampshire adult res­i­dents found that a slight major­i­ty sup­port­ed the death penal­ty in mur­der cas­es where a police offi­cer is killed. At the time of the poll, two cap­i­tal cas­es where being pros­e­cut­ed, one where the vic­tim was a police offi­cer. 57% of those polled sup­port­ed the death penal­ty in police killing cas­es, 39% opposed, and 4% were unsure. (​“NH poll: sup­port for death penal­ty in cop killing”, Associate Press, September 2008). 
• Abolition of New Hampshire Death Penalty Supported by Judiciary Committee and Residents As the New Hampshire Senate Judiciary Committee vot­ed 5 – 1 to rec­om­mend that the state’s death penal­ty law be repealed, a new poll by Northeastern University found that 55% of New Hampshire res­i­dents sup­port abo­li­tion of the state’s death penal­ty, 35% oppose it, and 10% are unde­cid­ed. The poll, released on May 8, also shows that 78% of res­i­dents believe the death penal­ty is too arbi­trary, and 60% believe it is bet­ter to put mur­der­ers in prison for life than to risk exe­cut­ing an inno­cent per­son. The bill rec­om­mend­ed by the Judiciary Committee would elim­i­nate exe­cu­tions as a sen­tenc­ing option and replace it with life in prison with­out parole. In March, the House approved the bill 191 – 163. (Associated Press, 5/​8/​00 and 5/​5/​00).

New Jersey

• Fairleigh Dickinson University poll con­duct­ed in 2015 found that a slight major­i­ty of New Jersey adults sup­port the death penal­ty for cer­tain crimes. 57% of those polled favored the death penal­ty for cer­tain crimes, 36% opposed. This is a 4% increase in sup­port of the death penal­ty from the last Fairleigh Dickinson University in 2006. The poll includ­ed 1314 adults and took place in April 2015. (​“Majority Support for the Death Penalty Remains in New Jersey 2015 Poll”, Fairleigh Dickinson University, May 18, 2015).
• In a dra­mat­ic shift from 1999, cit­i­zens in New Jersey now favor life with­out parole over the death penal­ty for those who com­mit mur­der. In a Rutgers University poll released on April 28, 47% of N.J. respon­dents pre­ferred life with­out parole rather than the death penal­ty. In a sim­i­lar poll six years ago, 44% of respon­dents chose the death penal­ty, while 37% sup­port­ed life with­out parole. Support for the death penal­ty declines even fur­ther if respon­dents are giv­en the choice of life with­out parole plus resti­tu­tion to the fam­i­lies of mur­der vic­tims. In that case, less than 30% pre­ferred the death penal­ty as the appro­pri­ate sen­tence. (Press Release, New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, April 28, 2005). 
• A May 2002 poll of res­i­dents in New Jersey con­duct­ed by the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University revealed that sup­port for the death penal­ty has dropped con­sid­er­ably in the state, and that the major­i­ty of res­i­dents sup­port a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions until issues of accu­ra­cy, fair­ness and cost effec­tive­ness can be exam­ined. The fol­low­ing are among the pol­l’s key findings:
  • When giv­en the option of life with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole as a sen­tenc­ing alter­na­tive, 48% of New Jerseyans sup­port a life sen­tence, while 36% sup­port cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. This is a rever­sal from 1999 polling results that showed that 44% of New Jerseyans then sup­port­ed cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment and 37% favored life impris­on­ment when giv­en the choice.
  • Six in 10 New Jerseyans sup­port a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions while the state’s death penal­ty stat­ues are reviewed.
  • A quar­ter of those sur­veyed say that they are more like­ly to vote for a can­di­date who sup­ports a mora­to­ri­um, while only 7% of those sur­veyed would be less like­ly to sup­port him or her.
• A Star Ledger/​Eagleton Poll has found that 63% of New Jersey res­i­dents favor the death penal­ty for per­sons con­vict­ed of mur­der. This is a drop from the 72% who favored the death penal­ty when polled in 1994. Moreover, when asked to choose between the death penal­ty and a guar­an­teed ​“life in prison with absolute­ly no pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole,” sup­port fell to 44%. By a mar­gin of 56% to 37%, far more agree than dis­agree that a poor per­son is more like­ly than some­one else to receive the death penal­ty for the same crime. Forty-two per­cent also agree that a black per­son is more like­ly than a white per­son to receive the death penal­ty for the same crime. (The Star Ledger/​Eagleton Poll press release 10/​10/​99, and Associated Press 10/​10/​99).

New Mexico

• A poll from the New Mexico Political Report, con­duct­ed by Public Policy Polling, found that a major­i­ty of those polled sup­port the New Mexico governor’s pro­pos­al to bring back the death penal­ty. 59% of reg­is­tered vot­ers sup­port the pro­pos­al, 34% oppose, 8% are unsure. (Poll: More than half of New Mexicans sup­port death penal­ty revival, KRQE News, August 23, 2016). 
• Life Without Parole Gains Support in New Mexico A recent poll of New Mexico vot­ers revealed that a grow­ing num­ber of vot­ers favor the sen­tence of life in prison with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole over the death penal­ty for cap­i­tal crimes. Polling data revealed that 43% of respon­dents favored repeal­ing the death penal­ty when giv­en the sen­tenc­ing option of life with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole and 48% still sup­port­ed the death penal­ty. This num­ber rep­re­sents a sig­nif­i­cant shift from a 1999 poll that found 39% of respon­dents in favor of repeal­ing the death penal­ty when giv­en the sen­tenc­ing option of life with­out parole and 54% in favor of retain­ing the death penal­ty. (Santa Fe New Mexican, October 4, 2002).

New York

• Most New Yorkers would choose a sen­tence of life with­out parole (LWOP) over the death penal­ty for those con­vict­ed of mur­der. In a recent poll pub­lished in Newsday, 53% of N.Y. adults said LWOP is the bet­ter penal­ty, where­as only 38% chose the death penal­ty, with 9% uncer­tain. New York’s death penal­ty was found uncon­sti­tu­tion­al by the state’s high­est court in 2004. The leg­is­la­ture elect­ed not to mod­i­fy the statute. (Source: Blum and Weprin Associates /​Newsday — Methodology: Telephone inter­views with 1,457 New York adults, con­duct­ed from Feb. 26 to Mar. 5, 2006; Angus Reid Global Scan, March 11, 2006).
• New Yorkers Favor Life Without Parole Over Death Penalty — A Quinnipiac University poll revealed that when New Yorkers were giv­en the sen­tenc­ing option of life with­out parole in cap­i­tal cas­es, 53% of respon­dents chose life with­out parole and only 38% favored the death penal­ty. Nationally, Americans are about even­ly split: the poll found that 48% of Americans who were asked the same ques­tion would favor the death penal­ty and 44% would pre­fer life with­out parole. (New York Law Journal, March 19, 2003)
• Voters in New York’s Capital Favor Life Without Parole as Alternative to the Death Penalty — In March 2002, Zogby International sur­veyed reg­is­tered vot­ers in Albany County, the seat of the loca­tion of New York’s cap­i­tal. The poll found that 55% of respon­dents sup­port cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in cas­es where peo­ple are con­vict­ed of mur­der, while 42% oppose it. When offered the alter­na­tive of sen­tenc­ing con­vict­ed mur­der­ers to life in prison with absolute­ly no chance of being released on parole, 67% said they pre­ferred this alter­na­tive; 27% pre­ferred the death penal­ty. (Zogby International, 3/​25/​02)
• In a poll tak­en after N.Y.‘s first death sen­tence since the pas­sage of its death penal­ty law in 1995, most New Yorkers favored life sen­tences for 1^st degree mur­der rather than the death penal­ty: 38% chose the death penal­ty, 44% opt­ed for life with­out parole, and 9% pre­ferred life with a chance of parole as the appro­pri­ate sen­tence. (Quinnipiac College Poll, Assoc. Press, 6/​17/​98)
• A New York poll again con­firms that more peo­ple would pre­fer the sen­tence of life with­out parole than the death penal­ty for those con­vict­ed of 1^st degree mur­der. 44% sup­port­ed LWOP while only 38% sup­port­ed a death sen­tence. A major­i­ty of New Yorkers believe the death penal­ty has no effect on pre­vent­ing mur­ders. (NY Post, 3/​27/​98).
• Only 37 per­cent of New York vot­ers sup­port the death penal­ty, com­pared to 45 per­cent who favor life in prison with no chance of parole accord­ing to the Quinnipiac College Polling Institute in a press release, September 24, 1997. Another 12 per­cent of New Yorkers favor life in prison with a chance of parole, yield­ing a total of 57 per­cent for non-death penal­ty options. By a 28 – 66 per­cent mar­gin, New Yorkers do not think the death penal­ty has made the State safer since it was adopt­ed in 1995. The Quinnipiac Poll is among the most wide­ly cit­ed polls in the New York area. In New York City, only 28% favored the death penal­ty. (Press Release, Quinnipiac College Polling Institute, 9/​24/​97).

North Carolina

• 2023 — In a June 2023 poll of North Carolina vot­ers, 60% of vot­ers sup­port­ed retain­ing the death penal­ty as an option for first-degree mur­der cas­es, while 26% opposed its use and would favor abolition.
• 2019 — Nearly 3/​4ths of North Carolina vot­ers sur­veyed in a poll con­duct­ed by Public Policy Polling on January 30 – February 1, 2019 pre­ferred alter­na­tives to the death penal­ty as pun­ish­ment for mur­der; more than half favored replac­ing the death penal­ty with life with­out parole. Asked ​“which pun­ish­ment do you pre­fer for peo­ple con­vict­ed of first-degree mur­der,” 72% of North Carolina vot­ers pre­ferred alter­na­tives to the death penal­ty, while 25% pre­ferred the death penal­ty. 35% said they pre­ferred a com­bi­na­tion of life with­out parole plus a require­ment to work and pay resti­tu­tion; 19% pre­ferred life with­out parole; 12% favored a lengthy prison term, plus resti­tu­tion, with the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole; and 6% favored a lengthy prison term, with­out resti­tu­tion. When asked whether North Carolina should keep the death penal­ty or replace it with life with­out parole, a major­i­ty of North Carolina vot­ers (51%) said the state should replace the death penal­ty, while 44% said the state should keep it. Six per­cent said they were not sure. (Public Policy Polling, North Carolina Survey Results, February 2019.)
• 2010 — More than two-thirds of North Carolinians believe exe­cu­tions should be halt­ed in the wake of the SBI scan­dal, 58% per­cent believe a find­ing of racial bias should pro­hib­it an exe­cu­tion, and more than two-thirds are will­ing to con­sid­er end­ing the death penal­ty due to the high cost of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Sixty-eight per­cent of peo­ple sur­veyed said exe­cu­tions should be halt­ed until prob­lems with blood tests at the State Bureau of Investigation are ful­ly inves­ti­gat­ed. Fifty-eight per­cent said defen­dants should not be exe­cut­ed if a judge finds that racial bias played a role in their tri­als. Sixty-four per­cent of respon­dents sup­port­ed replac­ing the death penal­ty with life in prison with­out parole or were not sure whether it was a good idea to con­tin­ue using the death penal­ty in light of the more than 11 mil­lion dol­lar per year extra cost of the death penal­ty. (Fair Trial Initiative, Press Release 12/​13/​2010).
• 2009 — Death Penalty Support Continues to Wane in North Carolina. The Elon Poll found that between 2005 and 2007 the per­cent­age of North Carolinians polled who believe that the death penal­ty was the most appro­pri­ate pun­ish­ment for first-degree mur­der dropped from 61 to 48 per­cent. A poll con­duct­ed by Elon University in 2009 showed that the per­cent­age of those sup­port­ing the death penal­ty as the most appro­pri­ate pun­ish­ment for first-degree mur­der remained at the low­er per­cent­age. (The News and Observer, March 5, 2009)

• 2007 — Death Penalty Support Wanes in North Carolina. The poll found that 58 per­cent of adults sup­port the death penal­ty, but only 48 per­cent said it’s always the most appro­pri­ate pun­ish­ment for those con­vict­ed of first-degree mur­der, accord­ing to researchers at ElonUniversity. Another 10 per­cent said the sen­tence depends on the circumstances.

  About 38 per­cent of respon­dents said they believe life in prison is the most appro­pri­ate sen­tence for murderers.

  Those num­bers indi­cat­ed a sig­nif­i­cant shift from a November 2005 poll that showed near­ly two-thirds of adults sup­port­ed the death penal­ty, and 61 per­cent said it was always the most appro­pri­ate pun­ish­ment for first-degree mur­der. Just 27 per­cent pre­ferred life in prison (Herald Sun, April 24, 2007).

• 2004 — North Carolinians Support Death Penalty Moratorium. An April 2004 poll of North Carolinians revealed that 63% of respon­dents sup­port a halt to exe­cu­tions while the state’s death penal­ty is stud­ied, and many respon­dents have doubts about the accu­ra­cy of the death penal­ty. ​“Support for the two-year sus­pen­sion of exe­cu­tions is wide­spread and cuts across all demo­graph­ic groups, regions of the state and polit­i­cal par­ty affil­i­a­tion. This is clear­ly an issue that res­onates with the peo­ple of North Carolina,” stat­ed John Doble, founder of Doble Research Associations, the nation­al non-par­ti­san firm that con­duct­ed the poll. In addi­tion to sup­port for a mora­to­ri­um, the poll found that 71% of respon­dents believed that North Carolina def­i­nite­ly or prob­a­bly freed some­one from death row in the last 20 years because he was inno­cent, and 56% of respon­dents believed that the state has prob­a­bly exe­cut­ed an inno­cent per­son dur­ing the past two decades. While the major­i­ty (59%) of those polled favored the death penal­ty, this num­ber dropped to 33% when respon­dents were giv­en the sen­tenc­ing option of life with­out parole; and it fell even fur­ther — to 26% — when they were giv­en the option of life with­out parole plus resti­tu­tion to the vic­tims’ fam­i­ly. Regarding elec­tions, 59% said that it would make no dif­fer­ence in their vote if a can­di­date for the leg­is­la­ture sup­port­ed a mora­to­ri­um bill. In fact, 24% said that they would be more like­ly to sup­port a can­di­date who sup­port­ed the tem­po­rary halt to exe­cu­tions, and only 12% said that they would be less like­ly to sup­port that same can­di­date. The North Carolina Senate passed a bill to impose a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions while a study is con­duct­ed, and the mea­sure is cur­rent­ly under con­sid­er­a­tion in the House. The mea­sure would be the nation’s first mora­to­ri­um passed into law by a state leg­is­la­ture. (North Carolina Coalition for a Moratorium Press Release, May 17, 2004).
• November 2003 — North Carolina Poll Reveals Support for Moratorium on Executions. An Elon University Institute for Politics and Public Affairs poll of North Carolinians found that 41% sup­port a pro­posed 2‑year mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions to allow time to exam­ine prob­lems that could result in the exe­cu­tion of an inno­cent per­son. Although 62% of those sur­veyed said they sup­port the death penal­ty, only 38% opposed a mora­to­ri­um and the remain­ing 21% of respon­dents were unde­cid­ed. The North Carolina Senate passed a mora­to­ri­um mea­sure in 2003, and the House is expect­ed to take up the same leg­is­la­tion when it recon­venes in 2004. (WRAL news, November 23, 2003) See Innocence.
• September 2003 — Support for Death Penalty in North Carolina Drops Below 50%. A North Carolina pub­lic opin­ion poll con­duct­ed for The News & Observer found that 49% of vot­ers polled approved of exe­cu­tions for those con­vict­ed of first-degree mur­der while 42% favor life in prison with­out parole as the pun­ish­ment. Nine per­cent were unsure. The same poll reg­is­tered 40% of respon­dents in sup­port of a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions and 53% in oppo­si­tion to halt­ing exe­cu­tions for two years while the state stud­ies and fix­es pos­si­ble flaws in its death penal­ty sys­tem. State Representative Paul Luebke, who sup­ports a mora­to­ri­um, not­ed, ​“It’s clear that sup­port for the death penal­ty is not that strong in North Carolina.” The North Carolina Senate in April approved a two-year mora­to­ri­um bill, which the House will con­sid­er in May 2004. (The News & Observer, September 19, 2003)
• August 2003 — Poll Reveals that Carolinians Favor Death Penalty Moratorium. An August 2003 Charlotte Observer/​NBC‑6 poll revealed that near­ly half of those sur­veyed in North and South Carolina say the states should pause exe­cu­tions until the death penal­ty sys­tem is deemed fair. Of the 908 respon­dents, 48% voiced sup­port for a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions and 41% were opposed. While men were about equal­ly split on the ques­tion, 50% of women favored a mora­to­ri­um and 35% opposed it. Among African American respon­dents, 67% favored a mora­to­ri­um, while 42% of white respon­dents said that they would sup­port halt­ing exe­cu­tions. (Charlotte Observer, September 13, 2003)
• 2001 — North Carolinians Strongly Favor Death Penalty Moratorium; Oppose Execution of Mentally Retarded. A recent poll of North Carolinians found that 70% of respon­dents sup­port a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions in the state. The poll, released by the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers, found that 65.4% pre­fer life with­out parole for per­sons with men­tal retar­da­tion — a mea­sure recent­ly passed by the state Senate and cur­rent­ly pend­ing before the House. The poll also found that 66.8% think inno­cent peo­ple have been sen­tenced to death or exe­cut­ed in North Carolina in the past 25 years. (North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers, Press Release, 6/​29/​01)
• September 2000 — North Carolinians Support Moratorium. The North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers called for a halt to exe­cu­tions until ques­tions about the fair­ness of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment could be resolved. The acad­e­my released a poll that found only 2 in 5 North Carolina vot­ers are con­fi­dent that the death penal­ty is applied fair­ly. The poll found that 59% favored a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions until issues con­cern­ing fair­ness could be stud­ied. (Charlotte Observer, 9/​13/​00)
• July 2000 — Less than Half of Carolinians Prefer the Death Penalty; Majority Support Moratorium. A July poll of Carolinians by the Charlotte Observer-MBTV News Carolinas Poll found:
  • Only 45% pre­ferred the death penal­ty as the appro­pri­ate penal­ty for those con­vict­ed of murder.
  • 62% said they favored a mora­to­ri­um of exe­cu­tions until it is deter­mined that the death penal­ty is fair.
  • 64% think that the Carolinas should exempt those with men­tal retar­da­tion from the death penal­ty. (Charlotte Observer 9/​9/​00)

Ohio

• The 2023 Tarrance Group poll found that a slight major­i­ty favored prison sen­tences to death sen­tences. 56% of those polled said that the death penal­ty should be replaced with life in prison with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole. 57% of those polled said that life in prison was the pre­ferred pun­ish­ment for 1^st degree mur­der over the death penal­ty. 58% of those polled said Ohio Governor should sign a law replac­ing the death penal­ty with life in prison with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole. 56% agreed that the pos­si­bil­i­ty of exe­cut­ing an inno­cent per­son is too great. (Infographic, ACLU, January 8, 2024). 
• A September/​October 2020 poll by the Tarrance Group found that a major­i­ty of Ohioans favored repeal­ing the death penal­ty and replac­ing it with life with­out parole:
  • 54% of Ohioans said they pre­ferred some form of life in prison over the death penal­ty as the pun­ish­ment for mur­der, while 34% said they favored the death penalty.
  • 51% said they sup­port­ed replac­ing Ohio’s death penal­ty with life with­out pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole, ris­ing to 59% when respon­dents were pro­vid­ed infor­ma­tion about Ohio’s appli­ca­tion of the death penal­ty, includ­ing the fre­quen­cy of wrong­ful con­vic­tions, the high cost of cap­i­tal cas­es, and the lack of deterrent effect.
  • Before being pro­vid­ed infor­ma­tion about the admin­is­tra­tion of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, more Republicans favored replace­ment (48%) than opposed it (37%). Independents were about even­ly split (37% sup­port, 38% opposed), with a sig­nif­i­cant por­tion (25%) unsure. A major­i­ty of Democrats (58%) sup­port­ed repeal and replacement.
  • After infor­ma­tion on inno­cence, costs, and oth­er issues was pre­sent­ed, majori­ties of Republicans (53%) and Democrats (70%) sup­port­ed elim­i­nat­ing cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in favor of life sen­tences, while sig­nif­i­cant­ly more Independents sup­port­ed replace­ment (48%) than opposed it (29%).
    (The on-line poll of 600 reg­is­tered Ohio vot­ers, com­mis­sioned by the ACLU of Ohio and Ohioans to Stop Executions, was con­duct­ed between September 29 and October 1, 2020. The results were released January 28, 2021. The poll had an error rate of ± 3.9%.)
• A May 2014 poll by Quinnipiac University found that:
  • When offered a choice, 43 per­cent of vot­ers favored the death penal­ty and 40 per­cent favored life in prison with no chance of parole, while 9 per­cent favored life in prison with a chance of parole — a total of 49 per­cent for the two life options.
  • “Ohioans over­whelm­ing­ly sup­port cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, but the option of life in prison with­out parole tips the bal­ance against the death penal­ty,” said Brown.
  • (May 7 — 12 sur­vey of 1,174 reg­is­tered vot­ers with a mar­gin of error of +/- 2.9 per­cent­age points. Live inter­view­ers called land lines and cell phones.)
• A February 2014 Quinnipiac Poll shows more sup­port for death penalty alternatives
  • When offered alter­na­tives to the death penal­ty, at total of 48% Ohioans chose the pun­ish­ment of life with­out parole (36%) or life in prison with the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole (12%); only 47% pre­ferred the death penalty
  • If no alter­na­tives were offered, 68% favored the death penal­ty and 26% opposed it. (Press release, Feb. 19, 2014; poll of 1,370 vot­ers; +/-2.7 mar­gin of error)
• Ohio Poll Shows Preference for Life in Prison Without Parole; DNA Testing Although a major­i­ty of Ohioans con­tin­ue to sup­port the death penal­ty, a Buckeye State Poll, con­duct­ed by the Ohio State University, found the following:
  • 46% would pre­fer life in prison with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole as an alter­na­tive to the death penal­ty for first degree murderers
  • 95% think that states should per­mit DNA test­ing in all cases
  • 51% think it is like­ly or very like­ly that an inno­cent per­son can be wrong­ly con­vict­ed and exe­cut­ed. (The Columbus Dispatch, 8/​6/​00)
• In an Ohio State University poll released October 1, 1997, 59% of Ohioans said they would sup­port a life with­out parole sen­tence plus manda­to­ry resti­tu­tion as an alter­na­tive to the death penal­ty. 31% were not in sup­port of this alter­na­tive. 46% of the respon­dents thought it like­ly that an inno­cent per­son could be con­vict­ed and executed.
• Ohioans think wrong­ful exe­cu­tions are ​“like­ly” and sup­port alter­na­tives to the death penalty
  • 68% of Ohioans report­ed that the like­li­hood of an inno­cent per­son being wrong­ly con­vict­ed and exe­cut­ed was either some­what like­ly or very like­ly. This is an increase since the 1997 poll in which 46% report­ed that an inno­cent per­son might be wrong­ly con­vict­ed and executed.
  • 57% of those polled sup­port, as an alter­na­tive to the death penal­ty, a sen­tence of life in prison with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole for a min­i­mum of 25 years and that the inmate be required to work in prison indus­try for mon­ey that would go to the vic­tim’s fam­i­ly. (Survey Research Center at Ohio State University, Press Release 11/​19/​99).

Oklahoma

• The Sooner Survey by Cole Hargrave found that two thirds of those polled favor the death penal­ty. 65% of vot­ers favor the death penal­ty (46% def­i­nite­ly favor and 18% prob­a­bly favor) and 29% oppose (19% def­i­nite­ly oppose and 10% prob­a­bly oppose). (Pat McFerron, ​“Oklahoma Voters: Be Strong On Crime”, Cole Hargrave Snodgrass & Associate, August 3, 2023) 
• A pub­lic opin­ion poll by Cole Hargrave Snodgrass & Associates, con­duct­ed October 11 – 15 and released October 27, one day pri­or to the state’s October 28 botched exe­cu­tion of John Grant, report­ed that 64% of Oklahomans said they favored the death penal­ty. While sup­port for the death penal­ty remained strong, the results reflect­ed a con­tin­u­ing down­ward trend in the state. 68% of respon­dents in an October 2015 Cole Hargrave poll had said they sup­port­ed the death penal­ty and 74% of respon­dents to a June 2014 Tulsa World poll con­duct­ed by the Sooner Poll said they sup­port­ed cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Responses to polling ques­tions about the death penal­ty vary sig­nif­i­cant­ly depend­ing upon the word­ing of the ques­tions asked. At the same time Cole Hargrave report­ed in October 2015 that more than two-thirds of Oklahomans sup­port­ed the death penal­ty in the abstract, a November 2015 Sooner Poll found that 52.4% of Oklahomans would sup­port abol­ish­ing cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment if the state replaced the death penal­ty with the alter­na­tive sanc­tion of life with­out parole, plus resti­tu­tion. (Pat McFerron, ​“Oklahomans Strongly Support Death Penalty”, Cole Hargrave Snodgrass & Associates, October 27, 2021).
• A major­i­ty of Oklahoma vot­ers favor abo­li­tion of the death penal­ty if it is replaced with a sen­tence of life with­out parole plus resti­tu­tion, accord­ing to a poll com­mis­sioned by News 9/​News on 6. The November 2015 sur­vey by the non-par­ti­san SoonerPoll​.com found that 52.4% of Oklahomans would sup­port abo­li­tion of the death penal­ty if the state replaced its sys­tem of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment with the alter­na­tive sanc­tion of life with­out parole, plus a require­ment that the inmates pay resti­tu­tion to vic­tims’ fam­i­lies. Nearly a third of respon­dents (30.5%) said they would ​“strong­ly sup­port” abo­li­tion if this alter­na­tive pun­ish­ment option were offered. The gap between sup­port for replac­ing the death penal­ty ver­sus retain­ing it as is was more than 18 per­cent­age points, with 34.0% of respon­dents say­ing they would oppose abo­li­tion. (See the poll results here.) A poll of 500 Oklahoma vot­ers con­duct­ed by The Oklahoman in part­ner­ship with Cole Hargrave Snodgrass & Associates in October 2015 that asked the gen­er­al ques­tion whether Oklahomans sup­port­ed or opposed the death penal­ty report­ed that 67% of Oklahomans expressed sup­port for the death penal­ty, down from 74% sup­port report­ed in a 2014 poll by the Tulsa World. The Oklahoman poll showed that, at the same time, half of Oklahomans favored a mora­to­ri­um on the state’s death penalty.
• Oklahomans Support Ban on Execution of Juvenile Offenders. A University of Oklahoma poll of Oklahoma res­i­dents, released in April 2003, revealed that 62.8% of those sur­veyed would sup­port a leg­isla­tive ban on the exe­cu­tion of juve­nile offend­ers if the alter­na­tive sen­tenc­ing option of life with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole were offered. The polling results were released short­ly before Oklahoma car­ried out the exe­cu­tion of a juve­nile offend­er, Scott Allen Hain. (The Oklahoman, April 3, 2003) The poll also found that 49.3% of those polled favored a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions in the state so that a study of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment can be done, and 83.5% of respon­dents either some­what agree or strong­ly agree that the state has prob­a­bly exe­cut­ed an inno­cent per­son. See Juvenile Death Penalty.
• Poll Shows Mistakes Shake Oklahomans’ Confidence in Justice System. A recent poll by Oklahoma University found that 57% of Oklahomans were less con­fi­dent in the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem because of mis­takes made by the state’s police lab and the FBI’s errors in han­dling the Timothy McVeigh case. Jeff Pierce, who had been con­vict­ed on the basis of police chemist Joyce Gilchrist’s inac­cu­rate tes­ti­mo­ny had been exon­er­at­ed by DNA test­ing short­ly before the poll was con­duct­ed. The poll also found:
  • 73% think Pierce is not the only inno­cent per­son who has been sent to prison.
  • 2% believe an inno­cent per­son has already been executed.
  • More than 25% think inno­cent peo­ple get rail­road­ed by police or pros­e­cu­tors. (The Oklahoman, 5/​27/​01)
• Oklahomans Split on Moratorium. A Tulsa World poll found that 41% of Oklahomans said that they agreed with Oklahoma reli­gious lead­ers, who have been call­ing for a 5‑year mora­to­ri­um on the death penal­ty, and would sup­port a mora­to­ri­um; 49% said they opposed it. The poll also found that when asked if the death penal­ty is a deter­rent to crim­i­nals not on death row, 63% said they some­what or strong­ly agreed that it is, 37% said they strong­ly agreed and 26% some­what agreed; 33% some­what or strong­ly dis­agreed. In addi­tion, 27% some­what or strong­ly dis­agreed that regard­less of whether the death penal­ty was a deter­rent, it was the right thing to do; 44% strong­ly agreed it was the right thing to do, and 22% agreed that it was the right thing to do. (Tulsa World, 1/​9/​01)

Oregon

• Poll Shows Oregonians Still Support Capital Punishment A February poll of Oregonians by OPB found:
  • 57% favor the death penal­ty for some crimes; 39% oppose it, 4% say they don’t know (OPB 2/​1/​12)

Pennsylvania

• In a 2023 poll of reg­is­tered Pennsylvania vot­ers found that a major­i­ty (62%) sup­port the death penal­ty and 34% oppose. (Berwood Yost, ​“April 2023 Franklin & Marshall College Poll”, Franklin & Marshall College, April 13, 2023)
• According to a new poll by Public Policy Polling, a major­i­ty of Pennsylvanians find some form of a life sen­tence to be prefer­able to the death penal­ty, and more sup­port the death penal­ty mora­to­ri­um imposed by Governor Tom Wolf than oppose it. When asked what sen­tence they pre­ferred for peo­ple con­vict­ed of mur­der, 54% of respon­dents select­ed some form of life sen­tence, while 42% pre­ferred the death penal­ty. 50% were in favor of the Commonwealth’s death penal­ty mora­to­ri­um, includ­ing 29% who say they ​“strong­ly sup­port” it. 44% said they opposed the mora­to­ri­um. The poll, which was com­mis­sioned by Dr. Eric Ling, a crim­i­nal jus­tice pro­fes­sor at York College, also asked respon­dents whether they thought the death penal­ty or life with­out parole was more expen­sive. 70% erro­neous­ly believed that life with­out parole was the more expen­sive pun­ish­ment. (J. Muphy, ​“Death penal­ty los­ing pub­lic sup­port in Pa., poll shows,” The Patriot-News, March 25, 2015.) 
• Death Penalty Supporters in the Minority in PA A recent poll admin­is­tered by the Center for Survey Research at Penn State Harrisburg revealed that more Pennsylvanians pre­fer a life sen­tence over the death penal­ty for those con­vict­ed of mur­der. The poll found that only 42.9% of respon­dents chose the death penal­ty when also giv­en the sen­tenc­ing options of life with parole and life with­out parole. A total of 45% of respon­dents chose either life-with­out-parole (35.5%) or the sen­tence of life-with-parole (9.6%). Larry Frankel, leg­isla­tive direc­tor for the ACLU, cit­ed Pennsylvania’s six death-row exon­er­a­tions com­pared with three exe­cu­tions since 1976 as ​“proof the sys­tem does­n’t work all the time.” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Jan. 10, 2007). Additional infor­ma­tion about the poll may be found at https://​www​.aclu​pa​.org/​n​e​w​s​/​2​0​0​7​/​0​1​/​0​8​/​p​o​l​l​-​d​e​a​t​h​-​p​e​n​a​l​t​y​-​s​u​p​p​o​r​t​e​r​s​-​m​i​n​o​r​i​ty-pa
• Pennsylvania Poll Finds Support for a Moratorium A recent poll of Pennsylvanians found that 72% favor sus­pend­ing the death penal­ty until ques­tions about its fair­ness can be stud­ied. The poll also found:
  • 67% sup­port a sen­tence of life in prison with­out parole as an alter­na­tive to the death penalty
  • 69% agreed that the poor are more like­ly than the wealthy to be executed
  • 51% agreed that blacks are more like­ly than whites to be executed
  • very few vot­ers (10%) have ever vot­ed for a can­di­date based on the death penalty issue
  • 71% favor the death penal­ty, con­sis­tent with nation­al fig­ures (Madonna Yost Opinion Research, March 2001) Read the Press Release.

South Carolina

Less than Half of Carolinians Prefer the Death Penalty; Majority Support Moratorium A July poll of Carolinians by the Charlotte Observer-MBTV News Carolinas Poll found:

• Only 45% pre­ferred the death penal­ty as the appro­pri­ate penal­ty for those con­vict­ed of murder.
• 62% said they favored a mora­to­ri­um of exe­cu­tions until it is deter­mined that the death penal­ty is fair.
• 64% think that the Carolinas should exempt those with men­tal retar­da­tion from the death penal­ty. (Charlotte Observer 9/​9/​00)

South Dakota

• 61% of cit­i­zens in South Dakota back death penal­ty; Support reflects nation­al rate for a pun­ish­ment not used in the state since 1947. South Dakotans don’t agree on the death penal­ty or even that it’s the ulti­mate pun­ish­ment for a crime. But most seem to think that the state ought to have the option of putting a crim­i­nal to death, accord­ing to a recent Argus Leader poll. That pub­lic opin­ion poll showed that 61 % of South Dakotans sup­port cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment by lethal injec­tion, while 26 % oppose it. The oth­er 13 % said they weren’t sure. (Argus Leader: November 5, 2006)

Tennessee

• According to the May 2022 Vanderbilt Poll, 53% of respon­dents pre­ferred sen­tences of life in prison with­out parole con­vict­ed mur­der­ers, while 37% of respon­dents sup­port­ed the use of the death penal­ty for con­vict­ed mur­der­ers. 52% of Republicans sup­port­ed the use of the death penal­ty. 66% of Democrats pre­ferred life impris­on­ment over the death penalty.

Texas

• April 2021 University of Texas/​Texas Tribune Poll. The UT/​TT poll found that sup­port for the death penal­ty in Texas, while still strong, has fall­en sig­nif­i­cant­ly over the past decade. 63% of reg­is­tered vot­ers sur­veyed said they sup­port the death penal­ty for peo­ple con­vict­ed of vio­lent crimes, while 26% said they oppose it. 12% said they had no opin­ion or were unde­cid­ed. Support was down from 75% in February 2015 and from 78% when the poll began in 2010. 40% of respon­dents said they ​“strong­ly sup­port” the death penal­ty, down from 49% in 2015 and 53% in 2010. Opposition to the death penal­ty was up from 18% in 2015 and 16% in 2010. (University of Texas/​Texas Tribune Poll, Texas Statewide Survey, April 16 – 22, 2021.)
• 2013 — Wrongful Convictions. Texans con­tin­ue to sup­port the death penal­ty even though most believe the state wrong­ly con­victs peo­ple from time to time.
  • Nearly three-quar­ters of Texas vot­ers sup­port the death penal­ty for peo­ple con­vict­ed of vio­lent crimes, and 46 per­cent said they strong­ly sup­port it. Twenty per­cent oppose the death penal­ty, half of them strongly.
  • At the same time, only 2 per­cent said peo­ple are ​“nev­er” wrong­ly con­vict­ed, anoth­er 27 per­cent said peo­ple are ​“almost nev­er” wrong­ly con­vict­ed, and 49 per­cent said that ​“occa­sion­al­ly hap­pens.” About one in eight said wrong­ful death penal­ty con­vic­tions take place ​“a great deal of the time.” (Texas Tribune, November 8, 2013).
• 2007 — The Death Penalty in Texas. About 70 per­cent of Texans sup­port the death penal­ty, and 49 per­cent strong­ly sup­port it. About a quar­ter of Texans oppose the death penal­ty, 15 per­cent strong­ly so. The poll­sters said sup­port for death penal­ty appears to have dimin­ished slight­ly from pre­vi­ous sur­veys, and they spec­u­lat­ed that recent reports of judi­cial errors may have played a role (Star-Telegram, June 14, 2007).
• 2003 — Texans Support Option of Life Without Parole, Question Accuracy of Death Penalty. A Winter 2003 Texas Poll found that although a major­i­ty of Texans sup­port the death penal­ty, 72% of respon­dents said they would like juries to be giv­en the sen­tenc­ing option in cap­i­tal cas­es of life with­out parole. The poll also shows that 69% of respon­dents believe the state has exe­cut­ed inno­cent peo­ple. (Dallas Morning News, March 16, 2003)A Winter 2003 Texas Poll found that although a major­i­ty of Texans sup­port the death penal­ty, 72% of respon­dents said they would like juries to be giv­en the sen­tenc­ing option in cap­i­tal cas­es of life wihtout parole. The poll also shows that 69% of respon­dents believe the state has exe­cut­ed inno­cent peo­ple. (Dallas Morning News, March 16, 2003)
• Houston Chronicle Poll Examines State, National Opinion on Death Penalty A Houston Chronicle poll exam­ined how Houston res­i­dents view the death penal­ty com­pared to Texas and the rest of the nation. About one-third of Texas’ death row is from Harris County (Houston). The poll revealed that only a slim major­i­ty of Harris County res­i­dents (52.5%) and Texans (59.2%) believe that the death penal­ty is applied fair­ly, and near­ly the same num­ber of respon­dents (59.2% and 55.3%, respec­tive­ly) said that they believe Texas has exe­cut­ed an inno­cent per­son. Nationally, only 43.5% of Americans believe the death penal­ty is applied fair­ly and 25.1% believe that an inno­cent per­son has been exe­cut­ed in their state. The poll also cap­tured infor­ma­tion regard­ing the exe­cu­tion of juve­nile offend­ers and those who are men­tal­ly impaired, deter­rence, and how fac­tors such as geog­ra­phy and race shape pub­lic opin­ion regard­ing cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. For more infor­ma­tion about the poll, view the Houston Chronicle spe­cial report. (Houston Chronicle December 31, 2002). View the poll results:
  • Support of death penal­ty under various circumstances
  • Support of death penal­ty by race
  • Support of death penal­ty by region
• Texans Question Accuracy of Death Penalty, Support Life Without Parole A Texas poll revealed that approx­i­mate­ly 40% of Texans would sup­port a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions while a study is con­duct­ed to review the fair­ness of the state’s death penal­ty poli­cies. The poll also found that 66% of res­i­dents in the state believe that an inno­cent per­son has been wrong­ful­ly exe­cut­ed in Texas. Nearly three-quar­ters of res­i­dents favor chang­ing the state’s exist­ing law to allow life in prison with­out parole, and just 51% favor the law that allows exe­cut­ing an inmate who com­mit­ted cap­i­tal mur­der at age 17. (Austin American-Statesman, June 22, 2002).
• Texas Voters Prefer Life Sentence for Andrea Yates A Houston Chronicle/KHOU-TV poll found that most vot­ers in Harris County, Texas don’t sup­port the death penal­ty for Andrea Yates. Although pros­e­cu­tors are seek­ing the death penal­ty against Yates, the poll found that 57.3% of respon­dents said she should receive a life sen­tence; only 19.4% favored the death penal­ty. Yates has plead­ed not guilty by rea­son of insan­i­ty to two charges of cap­i­tal mur­der in the death of chil­dren. (Houston Chronicle, 11/​14/​01)
• Texans Believe State Has Executed Innocent People A Scripps-Howard poll in Texas found that 65% of those sur­veyed believe that the state of Texas has exe­cut­ed an inno­cent per­son. The belief in wrong­ful exe­cu­tions has gone up since June 2000, when 57% said an inno­cent per­son had been exe­cut­ed. The poll also found that a major­i­ty of Texans sup­port reform issues that are cur­rent­ly being con­sid­ered by the legislature:
  • 85% believe that inmates should have access to free DNA test­ing if it may prove their innocence
  • 71% favor chang­ing state law to include the sen­tenc­ing option of life without parole
  • 66% are opposed to the state exe­cut­ing an inmate who has men­tal retar­da­tion. (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 3/​1/​01).
• Poll Reveals Death Penalty Concerns A Houston Chronicle poll of res­i­dents of Harris County, Texas, found that although more peo­ple are sen­tenced to death in Harris County than any oth­er Texas coun­ty, cit­i­zens of Harris proved less sup­port­ive of the death penal­ty than oth­er Texans. Poll direc­tor Richard Murray said the find­ings show a grad­ual wan­ing of sup­port for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. The poll also found:
  • 67% thought it was some­what or very like­ly that an inno­cent per­son has been exe­cut­ed in this coun­try since the pun­ish­ment was resumed; 59% found it at least some­what like­ly that such a mis­take had been made in Texas
  • almost 1/​2 expressed con­cern that cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment was not applied fair­ly to all eth­nic or racial groups
  • 67% sup­port­ed giv­ing juries the option to sen­tence cap­i­tal mur­der­ers to life with­out parole, a mea­sure that soon will be put before the Texas legislature
  • 62% sup­port cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, a fig­ure clos­er to the nation­al aver­age than the 69% that sup­port it from the oth­er Texas coun­ties (Houston Chronicle, 1/​4/​01)
• Texans Believe State has Executed the Innocent A Scripps-Howard Poll found that 57% of Texans sur­veyed believe Texas has exe­cut­ed some­one who was inno­cent of the crime, and 3 out of 4 respon­dents said the state should declare a mora­to­ri­um on death sen­tences in cas­es that might be affect­ed by DNA test­ing. Survey results also show that while 81% of whites sup­port cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, sup­port drops to 55% among Hispanics and 44% among blacks. (Houston Chronicle, 6/​21/​00)
• A Scripps Howard News Poll in Texas reports that sup­port for the death penal­ty in that state has dropped to its low­est in three decades. Support for the death penal­ty dropped to 68%, 18 per­cent­age points low­er than in 1994, when it was 86%. Opposition to the death penal­ty has grown by over 250%, from 7% in 1994 to 26% cur­rent­ly. A large major­i­ty of 72% favored chang­ing Texas law to include a sen­tence of life with­out parole. Only about half of Texans believe the death penal­ty helps pre­vent crime. The poll had a mar­gin of error of 3%. (Houston Chronicle, 3/​15/​98).
• A poll released by the Dallas Morning News (1/​22/​98) revealed that the major­i­ty of Texans are uncer­tain about exe­cut­ing Karla Faye Tucker. 33% said they did­n’t know whether she should be exe­cut­ed or serve life in prison and anoth­er 22% said her sen­tence should be com­mut­ed. Only 45% sup­port­ed the death penal­ty for Ms. Tucker, despite the fact that 75% say they sup­port the death penal­ty in the­o­ry. See also, women and the death penal­ty.
• A poll in Texas showed that only a bare major­i­ty (53%) sup­port the death penal­ty if the death row inmate has ​“shown signs of turn­ing his or her life around.” (The Texas Poll, Ft. Worth Star Telegram, 1/​14/​99)

Utah

• In 2021 Deseret News and Hinckley Institute poll found that 40% of Utah adults sup­port get­ting rid of the death penal­ty as a sen­tenc­ing option, 51% oppose. Among those who sup­port abol­ish­ing the death penal­ty, 27% say it is because it’s moral­ly wrong, 20% say the risk of exe­cut­ing an inno­cent per­son is too high, 14% say the cost of judi­cial appeals is too high, 11% say it dis­pro­por­tion­al­ly affects peo­ple of col­or, and 8% say it is not a deter­rence to crime. (Katie McKellar, ​“New poll reveals sup­port for the death penal­ty is fad­ing in Utah”, Deseret News, October 27, 2021).

2017 Public Policy Polling

• 64% of Utahns pre­fer alter­na­tives to the death penal­ty for peo­ple con­vict­ed of mur­der: 47% sup­port life with­out parole plus resti­tu­tion to vic­tims, 9% sup­port life with­out parole, 8% sup­port life with pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole, 6% not sure. Just 29% pre­ferred the death penalty.
• Democrats, Republicans, and Independents all pre­ferred alter­na­tives to the death penal­ty by large margins.
• 54% would sup­port a bill to replace the death penal­ty with life with­out parole, com­pared to 41% who oppose such a measure.
• Only 1% of respon­dents said the death penal­ty was the most impor­tant issue when decid­ing their vote for state legislator.

2015 Utah Policy Poll

• 67% sup­port­ed the death penal­ty for per­sons con­vict­ed of aggra­vat­ed mur­der; 26% sup­port­ed life without parole
• 77% of those who said they were ​“very active” in the LDS (Mormon) Church sup­port­ed the death penalty
• 53% of Catholics sup­port­ed the death penalty
• 30% of Democrats sup­port­ed the death penal­ty; 61% favored life without parole

(Dan Jones & Associates poll, Nov. 5 – 14, 2015, utah​pol​i​cy​.com).

Virginia

• Majority of Virginians sup­port repeal of the death penal­ty A sur­vey released by the Wason Center for Civic Leadership in February 2020 found that a major­i­ty of Virginians (56%) sup­port repeal of the death penal­ty. Support was strongest among Democrats (74%), Black vot­ers (72%), and peo­ple under 45 (62%). More than one-third of Republican respon­dents (36%) said they sup­port­ed the mea­sure. The day after the results were released, the Virginia Senate vot­ed 21 – 17 to pass a repeal bill.
• On eve of exe­cu­tion, Virginians broad­ly sup­port penal­ty Virginia vot­ers favor the death penal­ty by a bet­ter than 2 to 1 mar­gin, with 66% sup­port­ive of it, 31% opposed. And inten­si­ty on this issue is with the sup­port­ers: 45% ​“strong­ly” back cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, 18% are that solid­ly opposed. But in Northern Virginia — site of sev­er­al shoot­ings by Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo — a small­er major­i­ty of 56% backs the death penal­ty, com­pared with 71% in the rest of the state. Support for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment has dipped since it was a cen­ter­piece issue in the 2005 guber­na­to­r­i­al cam­paign. Just before that vote, 72% of like­ly vot­ers statewide said they favored the death penal­ty, 30% opposed it. In the new poll, Republicans (82% sup­port) and inde­pen­dents (69%) are more apt to favor the death penal­ty than are Democrats (45%). Support for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment is also far high­er among men than women (73 to 60%), with the gen­der gap sharpest among polit­i­cal inde­pen­dents (77% of inde­pen­dent men back the pun­ish­ment com­pared with 57% of inde­pen­dent women). There is a wide racial gap in sup­port for the death penal­ty. Among whites, 72% sup­port it while a major­i­ty of African Americans (56%) oppose it. And younger vot­ers (59% among those under age 35) are less sup­port­ive than old­er vot­ers (68% among those 35 – 64 and 67% among seniors). (Washington Post, 11/​10/​09)
  
• Virginians in Favor of Alternatives to the Death Penalty; Disagree with ​“21-day rule” The 2001 poll of Virginians show that sup­port for the death penal­ty fell to under 70% (69.5%) and oppo­si­tion to the death penal­ty rose to 25.2%. In addi­tion, when respon­dents were giv­en the alter­na­tive sen­tence of life in prison with no pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole, sup­port for the death penal­ty dropped to 45.2%, with 50% sup­port­ing life with­out parole. The poll also asked whether respon­dents agreed with Virginia’s 21- Day Rule, which allows some­one sen­tenced to death or any felony 21 days to intro­duce any new­ly dis­cov­ered evi­dence in court. 15.8% agreed with this law, while 82.7% dis­agreed. Compared with the same ques­tion asked in 1997, those who dis­agree increased over 10%. (Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (VADP), 5/​13/​02) See also, VADP — Virginia Poll Results

• Majority Supports Moratorium in Virginia A Richmond Times-Dispatch/News-Channel 10 poll found that 58% of Virginians favor a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions until issues sur­round­ing the death penal­ty can be resolved. The poll also found that 91% favored allow­ing DNA test­ing for death row inmates to estab­lish guilt or inno­cence when DNA was unavail­able at tri­al. (Richmond Times-Dispatch, 11/​6/​00)

• Annual Survey Results Once Again Show Virginians in Favor of Alternatives to the Death Penalty
  Survey results from the Quality of Life in Virginia Poll show that sup­port for Virginia’s death penal­ty has dropped. When sur­vey­ors asked 514 respon­dents if they sup­port­ed the death penal­ty, 74% agreed. This is the low­est per­cent­age to respond in favor of the death penal­ty in 7 years. For the 7^th con­sec­u­tive year, results also show that Virginians pre­fer alter­na­tives to the death penal­ty. When asked about the alter­na­tive of life with no pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole for a min­i­mum of 25 years com­bined with resti­tu­tion for the vic­tims fam­i­lies, 54.8% agreed with the alter­na­tive and 40.5% dis­agreed. (Press release, Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, 8/​13/​99)

• The Center for Survey Research at Virginia Tech reports that 57% of Virginians sup­ports the alter­na­tive to the death penal­ty of life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years plus resti­tu­tion to the vic­tim’s fam­i­ly. Over 72% of those polled opposed Virginia’s law which pre­vents the accused from intro­duc­ing new evi­dence of inno­cence 21 days after tri­al. (Quality of Life in VA Survey, 1997).

Washington

• A July 2018 poll of like­ly vot­ers, com­mis­sioned by theNorthwest Progressive Institute (NPI) and con­duct­ed by Public Policy Polling, found that 69% of like­ly vot­ers in the state pre­ferred some ver­sion of a life sen­tence as pun­ish­ment for peo­ple con­vict­ed of mur­der, as com­pared to 24% who said they pre­ferred the death penal­ty. The most pre­ferred option was life in prison with­out parole, plus resti­tu­tion, which 46% of all respon­dents sup­port­ed. An addi­tion­al 10% pre­ferred life with­out pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole, while 13% favored life in prison with parole eli­gi­bil­i­ty after at least forty years. 8% said they were not sure.
• Every polit­i­cal demo­graph­ic pre­ferred some ver­sion of a life sen­tence over the death penal­ty: 82% of respon­dents who iden­ti­fied them­selves as Democrats favored one of the life options, as did 63% of Independents or sup­port­ers of a minor par­ty, and 54% of Republicans. 48% of respon­dents who said they vot­ed for Donald Trump pre­ferred one of the life-sen­tenc­ing alter­na­tives, as com­pared with 46% who said they pre­ferred the death penalty.

Wisconsin

• In a Marquette University Law School Poll, 50.5 per­cent of Wisconsinites oppose cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment for con­vict­ed mur­der­ers, while 46.6 per­cent sup­port it. ​“Support for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment is start­ing to taper,” says Wheelock, not­ing that the decline in sup­port for the death penal­ty in Wisconsin cor­re­sponds to increas­ing oppo­si­tion to exe­cu­tions nation­al­ly. (The Capital Times, August 21, 2013)
• In a University of Wisconsin Badger Poll, more respon­dents favored a sen­tence of life with­out parole rather than the death penal­ty. Only 45% sup­port­ed cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, while 50% favored life sen­tences. When asked about the death penal­ty in the­o­ry, with­out any alter­na­tive sen­tences men­tioned, 55.6% of Wisconsinites polled favored cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment for ​“cas­es involv­ing a per­son who is con­vict­ed of first degree inten­tion­al homi­cides, if the con­vic­tion is sup­port­ed by DNA evi­dence.” In a non-bind­ing November ref­er­en­dum, vot­ers will con­sid­er the rein­state­ment of the death penal­ty in the state. The Badger Poll ques­tioned 508 per­sons and has a mar­gin of error of +/-4%. (Badger Poll Release, July 17, 2006).